David Wilson is a nurse who cares for terminally ill patients. His thorough nursing, which gets him closer to his patients than even their own families, is sometimes misunderstood, but he stays by his patients’ sides and carries out his duties without complaint. When one of his patients dies, David is assigned to another, concealing his sadness by immersing himself in work; helping his patients with everything from trifling matters to serious emotional support. Chronic is director Michel Franco’s fourth feature film in which he objectively observes the inconvenient truths of life, much in the same vein as his previous works, his debut Daniel and Ana and After Lucia, screened at the 2013 Busan International Film Festival. Chronic begins with a familiar story of an intimate relationship between a nurse and his dying patients, but turns toward David’s troubled mind and a broken family who can’t overcome their grief. This well-crafted script affords unusual developments in the storyline, and Tim Roth’s performance blends seamlessly into it. Franco won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival this year. (Jin Park)