A Girl at My Door

A potentially compelling tale is compromised by its mode of telling in this simmering small-town saga, as South Korean writer/director July Jung struggles, in her feature debut, to marry the narrative's melodramatic incidents with her low-key approach. Arriving in a coastal backwater after disciplinary problems in Seoul, a senior cop (Doona Bae) tries to impose her authority upon her subordinates. But her position is undermined by her feud with the area's principal employer (Song Sae-byuk), whose drunken beating of his 14-year-old stepdaughter (Kim Sae-ron) eventually compels the cop to give the teenager sanctuary. Jung initially offers some perceptive insights into twisted morality and the treatment of migrant workers, but the plot becomes more convoluted when the girl grows jealous of the cop's ex-girlfriend (Jang Hee-jin), and her naive bid to exact revenge dilutes the potency of the social critique. Bae and Kim are riveting together, while cinematographer Kim Hyun-seok ably captures the ambience of the locale. But the provocative themes ultimately get lost in the surfeit of overwrought emotions.