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CART Today Drip Wears Stone

“CART” is the opening draw No.1 of South Korean domestic film, and an official selection of Toronto international Film Festival. This film is another detonating social conscience echoes topic after “Silenced” and “The Attorney”. The story is adapted from the real case of merciless beating against the corporate power. This is the utterance of 600 million vulnerable labor forces by Korean talented director Fu Chi Ying.

1^st Korean Commercial Film Deal With Temporary Worker

The number of temporary workers in South Korea is 8,230,000, almost half of the entire number of paid workers. Out of the total number of temporary workers, the number of female temporary workers has surpassed the number of regular workers. Especially, female temporary workers are spread out throughout the age range. Out of the OECD member nations, South Korea is a country with the most unstable and the shortest employment. The reality is that South Korea is suffering from acute employment instability.

is a story about 'temporary workers' that is dealt with for the first time in a mainstream film. The film was planned to bring forth the real aggravated labor issues in South Korea in the form of a popular film. Instead of using a style that is expository and difficult to understand, the film aimed to create a drama that could honestly express the lives of different people as they are. To do so, the following characters were created: Sun-hee, the mother of a son who works part-time in order to earn money to go on his school trip; Hye-mi who has to get off work on time in order to pick up her son at the daycare center; and Dong-jun who, although he got along well with the cleaning ladies, is now put in a position to fire them. The script development process that went on for many years was a process to confirm how realistic and honest their stories are and to develop the story as something that anyone could relate to.

Also, trusted and experienced staff as well as actors with both acting skill and star power in the Korean film industry gathered together for this film project. Those who joined in the production of “CART” all agreed that this film should realistically and honestly depict the people's painful and desperate life. Together with these people, it was possible to complete this film “CART” which is a film about labor movement and family as well as being a coming-of-age film. Similar to the main characters who did not give up on their dream to live together in harmony, we hope that this film “CART” will bring about meaningful dialogues and harmony within the Korean film industry as the most touching drama in 2014.

A Cast Full of Solid Actors

The cast of “CART” is not only South Korea's representative character actors such as YUM Jung-Ah, MOON Jeong-Hee, KIM Young-Ae, and KIM Kang-Woo, but also new rising actors in the Korean film industry such as DOH Kyung-Soo, CHUN Woo-Hee, and JI Woo, as well as great actors such as HWANG Jung-Min and LEE Seung-Joon.

Having portrayed strong characters in her acting career, YUM Jung-Ah shows a different performance by playing 'Sun-hee' who is a breadwinner of the family and a mother of two children. She decided to join the cast of the film because she "empathized with the story which could happen to anybody.

"Even though she's an actress, she gave a heartfelt performance having hardly any makeup on and even going as far as drawing freckles on her face without makeup. MOON Jeong-Hee has been recognized for her acting skills as well as her star power. As 'Hye-mi' in “CART”, she gives a range of emotional performances showing strong leadership and motherly love. Showing much love for the film, she revealed that her reason for joining the cast was because she "believed “CART” would be a great opportunity to speak out for minorities, women, and mothers who fight for their livelihood."

As 'Soon-rye' representing the cleaning ladies, KIM Young-Ae promises sincere performance when she revealed that she "found out through the script about the reality and the social structure that she didn't know about." KIM Kang-Woo perfectly portrayed the role of 'Dong-jun', the warm-hearted assistant manager in the personnel team. He commented, “’CART’ is a warm film full of humanity." Having recently made his debut as an actor on the TV screen, DOH Kyung-Soo is expected to become the next rising actor by playing 'Tae-young' who is 'Sun-hee's son. "I decided to join the cast because it deals with things that could happen around us every day," says HWANG Jung-Min who plays 'Ok-soon', the generous and humorous person livening up the spirit of the union members.

CHUN Woo-Hee recently gained much attention with her performances in films like “Sunny” and “Han Gong-ju”. "It seemed to speak out about the worries and emotions that friends of my age are going through," says CHUN Woo-Hee about her decision to join the cast and her portrayal of 'Mi-jin', a character representing the young people in their 20s, is much anticipated. Furthermore, the film was vitalized with the participation of actors LEE Seung-Joon and JI Woo, a rookie actor, who played 'Manager Choi' and 'Soo-kyung', respectively. LEE Seung-Joon is an actor who is active in both movie and TV screens.

Backdrop of the Actual Retail Store

The backdrop of the retail store was always at the center of the dramatic story where suddenly-fired people form a labor union and get suppressed by force after taking over the retail store. Since there were many restrictions in shooting the film when it is shot at an actual retail store, the 700-pyong (2314 square meters) warehouse in Osan was turned into a retail store, the main stage for “CART”.

While building the set, the production team had to focus on making it realistic in appearance and in size. Production Designer LEE Mok-Won explained the process of recreating the real look and size of the big box retail store, in order to make it look like a real retail store, so displayed the real products from the cash counter to the little products. The depth of space was expressed by setting the props in repetition. Through computer graphic works, the inside of the retail store was extended to a size of 4,628 square meter and the surrounding scene as well as the outer walls of the retail store was perfectly realized to make it into an urban retail store.

As much as devoting all efforts into making a detailed set of a retail store, the production team also focused on the contrasting areas of the company and the workers. The color, lighting, and the props were applied differently to the ruling company's area and where the workers spent their time.

Synopsis

Sun-hee (Yum Jungah) is a mother of two teenagers. With debts to pay back, her temporary job at a large retail store is the only way to support family. And she works hard to gain a permanent position at her job in order to make a better life for her kids. But, her teenage son, Tae-young, always grumbles about his mother’s job which is not making enough money to buy him a smart phone and to pay for his school field trip to a foreign country like his other classmates.

Hye-Mi (Moon Junghee) is a single mother and a co-worker of Sun-Hee. Soon-Rye (Kim Youngae) works as a janitor at the same store. When Sun-hee is about to take a permanent position at the store, she’s laid off out of the blue. But, soon, she and her temp co-workers become aware that their company is merging into a giant company and is avoiding its employment obligations to the temp workers. As a shy but devoted mother, she hadn't thought about putting on a strike against the company. But, when other temp women co-workers begin their solitary fight against the unjust layoffs, Sun-hee takes courage to stand in the front. Tae-young never understood why his mother worked that hard and got laid off for nothing. To earn money for his field trip, Tae-young works at a 24-hour convenient store secretly from his mother, and he himself experiences getting underpaid. Then, he comes to realize his mother’s meaningful fight against injustice. With her once estranged son’s understanding and together with her united colleagues, Sun-hee starts to make a giant step forward for a better life and a better world.