Lee Chang-dong’s first short film, Heartbeat, arrived on Netflix on November 2. The streaming release gives the 28-minute film a wider audience four years after it premiered at the Jeonju International Film Festival.
Kim Geon-u plays Cheol, a boy who grows worried when his mother fails to answer the phone. He races home, and Lee follows the journey from Cheol’s point of view as the boy imagines what might have happened. Jeon Do-yeon plays his mother, and Sul Kyung-gu voices his father.
Netflix describes Heartbeat as taking place in the world of Possible Love, Lee’s forthcoming feature for the service. The films share an interest in depression and in how people respond when someone close to them is struggling. Possible Love is scheduled to stream on November 6.
The short was made at the suggestion of the World Health Organization and the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation, according to Netflix. It also screened in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section at San Sebastián in 2022, after its Jeonju premiere.
