Neither divorce nor adultery impacts children positively. Therefore, it is hard to pick which one is worse; when one of the parents sees someone else or decides to end the relationship without going that far. Regardless, there are victims of it on both sides, and, as life itself proves, it’s not worth it.
“Another Child” provides an intimate and subtle portrait of a family affair involving a married man with a beautiful wife and an intelligent teenage daughter who has an affair with another woman, a restaurant owner. His seventeen-year old daughter Joo-ri struggles a lot as her family scrambles right before her eyes. The worst happens when, even at school, she is not at peace as the daughter of the same restaurant owner goes to the same school. Already not too friendly, a violent fight will occur between them. A fight that’s meant to escalate an already tense relationship but turns in the opposite direction when they learn there is another child on its way, that threatens the unity of the family even more.
Yoon-ah, by looking at her, one can tell she is a real fighter. All that’s not because of her violent fight with Joo-ri at school that almost led to her suspension but rather the events taking place afterwards when she realizes she is more mature than her mother and is willing to do anything to take the little child under her wing. Director Kim Yoon-seok who portrays the same man that causes chaos in the life of four people, and soon to be five, is melancholic, fragile, and almost ready to break. His nuanced performance as well the entire female cast led by the insanely talented Kim Hye-jun (KINGDOM) and Park Se-jin (in a debut role), as well as Yeom Jung-a (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) and Kim So-jin (THE DRUG KING).
The entire film is like a well painted portrait of pain, and by looking at it, you will try to embrace it with a heavy heart. However, nothing can bring more pleasure than viewing it, seeing how the younger generation tries to survive in a world messed up by narrow-minded adults. Yes, infants are qualified to be called children, but if you think about it at it, both Joo-ri and Yoon-ah are children as well, however, they will have to figure out their own way to make it through before it’s too late.