Futureless Things (2014)

Futureless Things (2014) was not the film I was expecting it to be. Within the first ten minutes or so, I mistakenly thought I had grasped what seemed to be a simple plot about young love. It was initially quite difficult for me to understand that the film contained several different narratives, following an episodic structure. Although these narratives intertwined, and were grounded in the fact that all scenes occurred in and around the convenience store, they remained independent of each other.

Choosing a convenience store as the main setting gave the filmmaker an opportunity to present us with an odd, mishmashed cast of characters. After all, a convenience store does not discriminate based on age, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. If you come into a convenience store, more often than not, you need something specific, whether it be a bottle of water, a pack of cigarettes, or a strange package that has the ability to talk to you – however, there’s not much to do once you’ve accomplished your task. Although the moments we spent with each group of characters were fleeting, they were impactful nonetheless. We saw the gambler who prayed to many different Gods, the North Korean clerk being harassed by a customer, the aspiring actor trying to make it to his casting call, and many more. I enjoyed the different comedic forms that the director experimented with – although it may be argued that the film is inconsistent, I found each and every “episode” refreshing.

I’ve recently become fascinated with K-Pop and K-Dramas, but I’m no expert on Korean culture, therefore making it impossible for me to pick up on all the social commentary embedded in the film. However, one of my particular favorite scenes was the interaction between the clerk and the English-speaking mother and daughter. It reminded me of the Philippines in the sense that there is a certain prestige attached to people who can speak and understand English. Even if you’re in your own country, you’re expected to adjust to English-speakers instead of the other way around. This is also evident in the way that the clerk was learning English on his shift and trying his absolute best to converse with the Middle Eastern women by using the sentences he had learned by listening to his tape.

There is a transitory nature to being a shop assistant – most of the protagonists we saw were working part-time as they pursued a better future and a bigger dream. Their futures are uncertain, but there is a glimmer of hope that they won’t be working at a convenience store forever. These people would definitely abandon their shop clerk jobs immediately after a better opportunity presented itself. Even the customers themselves float in and out of the store. Their presence is transient. However, the convenience store remains a constant in the life of its franchiser – he was buried in debt, could barely keep the business running smoothly, and was placed under constant evaluation by his superiors. Crushed under the weight of this responsibility, he eventually commits suicide.