TRUST NO ONE
CIRCLE AWARD

A Normal Family

Bo-tong-ui ga-jog

HUR JIN-HO
South Korea, 2023
116 minutes, Color
Official website

Director Hur Jin-ho's emotional thriller begins with a shockingly well-realized road rage incident that kills a man and sends his young girl to the hospital. This seemingly random event brings together two brothers, one a lawyer (Sul Kyung-gu) who will try anything to get the guilty driver off, and the other an overworked doctor (Jang Dong-gun), conscientiously trying to save the girl's life. But most of the action shifts to the strained family dynamics at home, particularly the stress of raising modern teenagers. The lawyer's willful daughter (Hong Yi-ji) seems destined for success; the doctor's son is struggling and is tutored by his cousin. When the children get in trouble, the film asks difficult questions about personal, parental, and societal responsibility: What is justice, and how far do you go for your beliefs?—Dave Nuttycombe

In Korean with English subtitles