As the film starts, something familiar flashes across the screen: Denis Lavant′s riveting scene from Leos Carax′s Bad Blood. As Jeon Soo-ll previously revealed, his infatuation with Leos Carax′s work resulted in the birth of ′images and silence′, the common denominator in both their films. This movie starts with such promise. Jeon′s film, however, is much more bleak. Kim is a film professor whose memories of birds inspire him to shoot a film based on his recollections. But the image of a bird in his dream is a far cry from reality. His future with long-time girlfriend Young-Hee and his position as dispassionate educator reflect the distance between the movies and reality. Young-Hee claims that Kim′s futile pursuit of birds is nothing more than an inability to acknowledge his own identity. In broader terms, her outburst reflects the futile desires of modern man, and the accompanying indefinable feeling of emptiness. This desolation is one of the images representing the end of the century. At the same time, this image is the film′s lone noble attribute. This is an autobiographical account of the director′s conflicted inner-self, shown through a series of poetic images as he tries to fulfill the hopes of Icarus. (Lee Sang-Yong)