(Movie Review) 'Paradise Lost' teems with dark questions on AI, human nature but spreads itself thin

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- Director Yeon Sang-ho, known for his versatile storytelling in films ranging from the zombie blockbuster "Colony" (2026) to the low-budget mystery "The Ugly" (2025), is back with a film that explores artificial intelligence (AI) and human nature.

Inspired by a note written by Yeon's own mother, the psychological thriller follows the reunion of So-young (Kim Hyun-joo) and her son Sun-woo (Bae Hyun-sung), who was believed to be dead after a bus carrying children to a winter camp went missing.

The grieving mother deals with her son's assumed death through "Children of Paradise," an augmented reality program that reconstructs each of the child victims using AI, whom their parents can meet by wearing tailored AI glasses.

Nine years after the tragedy, So-young still grapples with her son's death, but she has pretty much returned to her everyday life as an employee at city hall, beginning her day with conversations with young Sun-woo -- who does not age -- through the AI platform.

This daily routine is upended when the real Sun-woo returns.

While people call his return a "miracle," the real and older version of Sun-woo is dark and violent, not resembling his younger self at all, with the exception of the habit of biting his finger nails.

Sun-woo's series of actions and questions daring his mother to let go of the AI version of himself puts So-young and her neighbors in a perilous situation, leading them into unimagined chaos.

With a reported production budget of merely 500 million won (US$374,000), Yeon once again creates a riveting story, maximizing the dismal tone of the film by setting it in a forlorn mining town, which stands in stark contrast to the modern and polished office of the high-tech firm that built "Children of Paradise."

Throughout the film, Yeon poses an abundance of deep and uncomfortable questions on themes ranging from memory, loss and grief, AI and reality, and motherly love.

Questions include to what extent AI can replace reality, how meaningful that can be, what it means to remember and grieve, and the scope of motherly love.

On top of that, in what appears to be an attempt to dig deep into the dark side of human nature, Yeon adds in elements such as trauma and learned violence, in constructing the character of Sun-woo.

While all of these topics are individually intriguing, fusing them together in a single plot seems to spread them thin at times, preventing audiences from delving into those themes at all.

Veteran actor Kim's solid performance in conveying a mother who goes through the dramatic emotional journey of losing a child and reuniting with one is an element that keeps the film grounded.

But the expansion of the various themes and abrupt incidents in the plot account for the bulk of the film, leaving little room for audiences to connect the dots and relate with So-young and Sun-woo.

The lack of explanation on how Sun-woo has spent the past nine years -- only explained in a few lines near the end of the film -- adds on to this.

The film, which Yeon called one of his darkest works so far, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival.

It is set for release next Wednesday.

mlee@yna.co.kr
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