Choi Hyun, a Chinese professor, comes to Korea to attend the funeral of his old friend. The professor visits Gyeongju to find the obscene picture which he saw with the dead friend seven years ago. He goes to the cafe where the picture located but cannot find out where it is now. Encountering several characters with stories of their own, Choi comes back to the cafe and later joins a drinking party with the cafe owner Yun-hui and her friends. This overnight stay in Gyeongju is both romantic and grotesque. Director Zhang Lu said, “Gyeongju is where life and death make a harmony; you can find royal tombs everywhere in Gyeongju.” As the director puts it, his film Gyeongju also presents the coexistence of life and death. Beginning from the funeral hall, the film shows serenity and beauty inside the cafe, followed by gigantic royal tombs before witnessing a sudden death. In the process, the characters express their longing for someone far away. This film truly marks a departure from the past works and a new beginning for Zhang Lu’s films. (NAM Dong-chul)