An awkward living arrangement sits at the centre of A Wild Roomer, director Lee Jeong-hong’s inventive slice-of-life debut feature. Gi-hong (Park Gil-hong) runs a small carpentry business, redoing the interiors of homes and offices, but jobs are sporadic at best. He has nonetheless found what appears to be a great lodging deal, renting out a room in an expansive modern home owned by a married couple. Although he has his own separate entrance and bedroom, his landlord seems eager to let the lines between their respective living quarters blur. Before long, the two of them are spending many afternoons getting drunk together. The humour in A Wild Roomer is understated, with its leisurely meandering plot and its wry observations of the sometimes odd ways that people come into contact with each other. Lee’s outstanding debut feature asserts him as a filmmaker to watch.

Darcy Paquet