Veterinarian Mun-ho is on the way to visit his parents with his fiancee Seon-yeong when she suddenly disappears at a rest stop. Mun-ho looks all over for her, but it seems as though she has simply evaporated, leaving behind only a hairpin on the restroom floor. Back in Seoul, Mun-ho goes to Seon-yeong’s house only to find what looks like a break-in. He then becomes convinced that she has been kidnapped. As he continues his search, he discovers that Seon-yeong was not his f...more

Veterinarian Mun-ho is on the way to visit his parents with his fiancee Seon-yeong when she suddenly disappears at a rest stop. Mun-ho looks all over for her, but it seems as though she has simply evaporated, leaving behind only a hairpin on the restroom floor. Back in Seoul, Mun-ho goes to Seon-yeong’s house only to find what looks like a break-in. He then becomes convinced that she has been kidnapped. As he continues his search, he discovers that Seon-yeong was not his fiancee’s real name. When his patience with the police runs out, he seeks help from his cousin Jong-geun, a former detective. Digging deeper into her disappearance, they get closer to uncovering yet another shocking truth about Seon-yeong.

An established documentary filmmaker, BYUN Yong-joo both wrote and directed <Helpless>, which is her third feature. She previously directed <Flying Boys> (2004) and <Ardor> (2002), which were also based on her own screenplays. Prominent among her documentary work is the trilogy of <The Murmuring> (1995), <Habitual Sadness> (1997), and <My Own Breathing> (1999), which examines the contemporary lives of former Korean “comfort women.”less