Cart (film)

Cart (Korean: 카트; RR: Kateu) is a 2014 South Korean drama film directed by Boo Ji-young^[3][4][5] about employees of a retail supermarket who band together when the contract workers are laid off, it is both an ensemble drama and a social critique.^[6][7]

Cart
Promotional Poster
Directed by	Boo Ji-young
Written by	Kim Kyung-chan
Produced by	Jamie Shim[1]
Starring	Yum Jung-ah Moon Jeong-hee
Cinematography	Kim Woo-hyung
Edited by	Kim Sang-bum Kim Jae-bum
Production companies	Myung Films 9ers Entertainment
Distributed by	Little Big Pictures
Release dates	September 7, 2014 (2014-09-07) (TIFF) November 13, 2014 (2014-11-13) (South Korea)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Box office	US$5.2 million[2]

It made its world premiere in the City to City: Seoul sidebar of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.^{[8][9][10][11]} Cart will also screen at the 19th Busan International Film Festival and the 34th Hawaii International Film Festival.^[12]

Plot

Sun-hee, a veteran cashier and mother of two, works at a large retail supermarket alongside Hye-mi, a single mother. Both are friendly with Soon-rye, a cleaning lady nearing retirement age, and all of them are temporary workers. Sun-hee is a model employee who works diligently in the belief that once she gets promoted as a regular worker, she'll be able to provide more for her children. However, their corporate employer abruptly notifies them that all the temporary workers will be laid off. Faced with these wrongful dismissals, Sun-hee, Hye-mi, Soon-rye, and fellow female employees such as naive ajumma Ok-soon and twenty-something Mi-jin, resolve to go on strike. They stage a series of increasingly impassioned protests against the company's exploitative practices, which gains more strength when junior manager Dong-joon, the only male representative of the store's labor union, joins in. The shy and passive Sun-hee, who finds herself thrust to the demonstrations' front lines, discovers within herself untapped resources of determination and resilience, which has an unexpected effect on her relationship with her estranged high school-age son, Tae-young. But as the women realize the power they can wield by taking a mutual stand, the company plays the workers against each other and Hye-mi, the leader of the strike, caves to the company's pressure and gives up.

Cast

• Yum Jung-ah as Sun-hee^[13]
• Moon Jeong-hee as Hye-mi
• Kim Young-ae as Madam Soon-rye
• Kim Kang-woo as Dong-joon
• Doh Kyung-soo as Tae-young^[14]
• Hwang Jeong-min as Ok-soon
• Chun Woo-hee as Mi-jin
• Lee Seung-joon as Section chief Choi
• Ji Woo as Soo-kyung
• Park Soo-young as Manager
• Song Ji-in as Ye-rin
• Hwang Jae-won as Min-soo
• Kim Soo-an as Min-young
• Lee Seon-hee as Cashier
• Kim Hyun as Cashier
• Kim Hee-won as Convenience store boss (cameo)
• Gil Hae-yeon as Real customer (cameo)

Background

The film is largely inspired by a 2007 incident in which Homever, a supermarket chain owned by E-Land Group, dismissed temporary workers, mostly women, and replaced them with outsourced employees to bypass a new law requiring that employees be given regular-worker status after a certain period. Dismissed employees and labor unions went on strike in front of the supermarket for 512 days until the matter was settled, with some employees reinstated.^{[15][16][17][18]} Director Boo Ji-young also studied the plight of irregular cleaning staff at major universities in Korea, including Hongik and Yonsei.^[4][19][20]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
2014	15th Women in Film Korea Awards	Woman of the Year in Film	Yum Jung-ah	Won
2015	10th Max Movie Awards	Best New Actor	Doh Kyung-soo	Nominated
	20th Chunsa Film Art Awards[21]	Best Actress	Yum Jung-ah	Nominated
		Best Screenplay	Kim Kyung-chan	Nominated
	9th Asian Film Awards[22]	Best Newcomer	Doh Kyung-soo	Nominated
	51st Baeksang Arts Awards[23][24]	Best Actress	Yum Jung-ah	Won
		Best Supporting Actress	Moon Jeong-hee	Nominated
		Best Screenplay	Kim Kyung-chan	Won
	24th Buil Film Awards	Best Actress	Yum Jung-ah	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Moon Jeong-hee	Won
		Best Screenplay	Kim Kyung-chan	Nominated
	35th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards[25]	Top 10 Films of the Year	Cart	Won
	52nd Grand Bell Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Doh Kyung-soo	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Kim Young-ae	Nominated
	36th Blue Dragon Film Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Moon Jeong-hee	Nominated
		Best Screenplay	Kim Kyung-chan	Nominated

References

1. Song, Soon-jin (28 January 2014). "Myung Films' Jamie SHIM: "Forging the New Within Commercial Cinema"". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
2. "Cart (2014)". Archived from the original on 2017-02-27. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
3. Kim, Su-yeon (17 October 2014). "Cart Director Boo Ji-young: "Especially interested in the weak in society"". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2014-10-30.
4. Ahn, Sung-mi (6 November 2014). "Herald Interview: Director tackles temp-worker issues". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
5. Jin, Eun-soo (7 November 2014). "Cart publicizes plight of temporary workers". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2014-11-08.
6. Song, Soon-jin (10 December 2013). "Completed Casting for THE CART about Discount Store Workers". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
7. Mattson, Kelcie (18 September 2014). "TIFF Women Directors: Meet Boo Ji-Young - Cart". Indiewire. Archived from the original on 1 November 2015. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
8. Bailey, Cameron. "Cart". TIFF.net. Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
9. Conran, Pierce (12 August 2014). "TIFF Reveals City to City: Seoul Lineup". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
10. Ahn, Sung-mi (25 August 2014). "Toronto film fest taps Korea for spotlight". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
11. Bechervaise, Jason (17 September 2014). "Toronto continues to spotlight Asian film industry". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
12. Kim, June (2 October 2014). "South Korean Films Fly to Hawaii International Film Festival". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-10-09.
13. "Yum Jung-ah Breaks New Ground in Film About Social Issues". The Chosun Ilbo. 22 November 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
14. Lee, So-dam (24 October 2014). "Interview: Yeom Jeong Ah says EXO's D.O Broke the Stereotypes of Idol Actors". enewsWorld. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2014-11-08.
15. "E-land labor dispute expected to continue". The Hankyoreh. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
16. Park, Chung-a (20 July 2007). "Police End E-land Strike". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
17. "E-Land labor union marks 300th day of strike". The Hankyoreh. 17 April 2008. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
18. "Lessons Learned From a 434-Day Strike". The Chosun Ilbo. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
19. Baek, Byung-yeul (30 October 2014). "Films based on true story continue to become dominating". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-21.
20. Lee, Ji-young (10 November 2014). "In Focus: Cart". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2014-11-27.
21. Ma, Kevin (9 March 2015). "Hard Day leads Chunsa Film Art nominations". Film Business Asia. Archived from the original on 14 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
22. Yoon, Ina (4 March 2015). "Korean Films and Artists Nominated for the Asian Film Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
23. Lee, Hoo-nam; Kim, Hyung-eun (28 May 2015). "Baeksang honors new, veteran stars". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
24. Conran, Pierce (27 May 2015). "CHOI Min-sik and REVIVRE Triumph at 51st Paeksang Arts Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
25. Conran, Pierce (2 November 2015). "THE THRONE Tops Korean Association of Film Critics Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-11-06.

External links

• Official website (in Korean)
• Cart at the Korean Movie Database (in Korean)
• Cart at IMDb
• Cart at HanCinema