The Fin Review
The Fin (2025) Film Review from the 78th Annual Locarno Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Syeyoung Park and starring Yeji Yeon, Pureum Kim, Goh-woo, Jung Yeong-Do and Joowon Meng.
Filmmaker Syeyoung Park imagines the unification of North and South Korea and its devastatingly bleak aftermath in a compelling science fiction drama, The Fin. This world that comes to life in Park’s picture is reminiscent of other works, yet remains quite distinct and fascinating underneath the surface. There are a certain number of eerie possibilities that the film suggests are on the horizon right from the beginning with pictures of characters with blacked out faces. As the movie goes on and moves forward with its story, the more intense it gets with a premise that is certainly intelligent underneath all the dark undercurrents which manifest themselves throughout.
A tale for our troubled times, the movie suggests a world where a certain type of mutated person called an Omega can be a threat to everyone else. If an Omega touches another human, it’s said to be dangerous for the other person. Also, they let out screams that are purely brutal to behold. Then, there’s the matter of Mia (Yeji Yeon), a girl who works in a fish market amongst the ordinary and holds a remarkable secret. Of course, only if the fact that an omega’s identity is discovered, will there be guaranteed harsh consequences. It’s a bizarre world that the film sets up, but in this setting, odd feet and fins characterize an Omega and one fin drives the plot in terms of how it is attempted to be brought to another.
Su-jin (Pureum Kim) is the resident authoritative voice here who has made a career out of the separation of Omegas and regular citizens. In the world imagined that is presented here, people don’t use water in an abundance due to the circumstances surrounding them and live lives that seem somewhat tarnished themselves whether they’ve been in the company of an Omega or not. An Omega is simply the catalyst to explore fear of the unknown. Omegas are separated and exploited for the greater good and the consequences of their unfortunate lives certainly have wrenching after-effects.
Meanwhile, Goh-woo serves as the Omega who plays a central role in the story line. This Omega has a reason for seeking out closure in life and the meaning of the plot developments that follow is best to be discovered by watching the film. There are some revelations that are in store for the viewer that drive home the points of the hard-hitting story line.
Mia may be living a life of quiet desperation, but she has accepted certain realities which have hardened her and made her used to her choice to be pretty much alone. Mia has conditioned herself to live as she chooses, but the film explores the complexity of her decisions and what happens as she is confronted with a series of choices that have uneasy implications in their excesses.
This movie fearlessly takes on the themes it chooses to explore. When Su-jin discovers the differences and similarities between the Omegas and everyone else, questions arise that have answers that the film lets the audience discover for itself regarding the logic (or lack thereof) the world the film presents possesses. This picture looks as dark as it is thematically and the sheer achievement in creating a world like the one the characters are immersed in here is a major feat in and of itself. However, some audiences may find the movie too bleak at points to stick with it all the way through. This film should be watched from beginning to end to understand the earlier scenes which make more sense later on as pieces are strung together in the layered plot line.
There are some intriguing performances as well. Yeji Yeon’s character is so well-conceived that it becomes one of the film’s biggest strengths. Mia is juxtaposed against the character of Su-jin who is played by Pureum Kim with realistic frustrations and there’s plenty of substance in all the central characterizations here. Goh-woo adds a rather distinctive quality to the Omega character that gives this film the excitement it needs to finally gets over some minor pacing hurdles which occur early on.
The Fin isn’t going to be for everyone. If you like science fiction that is thought-provoking and characters who shed light on the justices and injustices featured in the story line, then this film will prove to be a dystopian tale which could have you relating more to some of the characters by the time the ending arrives than when you first meet them at the outset. No matter what, this movie deserves credit for incredible world-building given the film’s most likely small budget. The Fin will leave audiences wanting more with its frightening look at what ultimately divides a group of people as well as what unifies them. It’s a solid effort all around.
Rating: 7/10
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