Review | No Heaven, But Love movie review: Squid Game star Lee Yoo-mi in touching queer drama that marks a return to her indie roots
- Squid Game and All of Us Are Dead star Lee Yoo-mi made her name in independent films, and here she plays a waitress in love with a schoolgirl (Park Soo-yeon)
- Lee’s chemistry with Park elevates the film, set in 1990s Korea, by Korean director Han Jay – a vivid and touching tale of young love in an intolerant society
3/5 stars
Despite her new-found celebrity she hasn’t given up on her indie roots, as evidenced by her new film, No Heaven, But Love, a queer drama from director Han Jay which just debuted at the Jeonju International Film Festival in South Korea.
Strictly speaking, Lee is the film’s love interest. The lead role is filled by Park Soo-yeon, who plays high-school taekwondo athlete Ju-young. This continues a sporting theme in her career – she has previously played a teenage runner and basketball player respectively in the notable Korean indie films Anchor and Hoop It Up.
The year is 1999, and people are antsy about the Y2K bug, which scaremongers have claimed will cause the world’s technology to grind to a halt. South Korea is still reeling from the IMF crisis of 1997, which ruined the livelihoods of thousands.
Ju-young is a diffident student bullied by her teammates, who are egged on by their awful coach, a violent young man who terrorises them all, in and out of the practice ring.
