In a neglected coastal village, bullying, cantankerous Vietnam vet Yeong-guk (Yoon Joo-sang) drowns his sorrows every night, and goes out early each morning in a fishing boat that, like him, has seen better days. With his straight talk and bellowing voice, he is perhaps the worst man to keep a secret, but he has one.

Park Ri-woong’s drama is a bleak portrait of an ageing, dying community, of those left behind by Korea’s economic boom, and of a whole way of life that is running on empty. All these characters lead harsh, precarious existences – and there seems to be only one way for any of them truly to escape their misery.

Anton Bitel