Hong is in debt and brings her mother Seo-hee, who suffers from dementia, home from a care facility. Hong is driven solely by money and has no expectations or desire to get along with Seo-hee. Hong uses Seo-hee's money to pay off her own debts and go on dates, becoming increasingly numb to using her mother‘s money in secret. Over the course of their time together, Hong and Seo-hee gradually open up to one another as they confront their painful pasts. But as Hong tries to work and build a life of her own in her late 30s, Seo-hee's presence and her deepening symptoms weigh heavily on her.

I heard that my mother, who lives in another part of the country, would have to be hospitalized due to her health problems. “She needs a guardian and I am the only one, but am I ready for that?" That's where the story began.
Red Nails is the story of Hong, a debt-ridden woman struggling with the hardships of life, who takes her dementia-stricken mother Seo-hee out of the care facility as a way of paying off debts. I wanted to make a film about the life and caregiving challenges faced by an unmarried, irregularly-employed woman in her late 30s in today‘s society, and the anxiety that arises when a highly educated woman, who wants to live a normal life, drifts away from societal norms. In addition, I wanted to talk honestly about the fears that women in their 30s and 40s have about the future in the rapidly aging society in front of us.

2024 제29회 부산국제영화제 한국영화감독조합 플러스엠상