Ashes to Ashes is a character documentary about a man’s daily life of holding funerals for those who died without family. Kang Bonghee cleans and shrouds the corpses, furnishes caskets and cremates bodies, and settles the left articles. Though sacrificing his livelihood, funeral companies and officials hamper this pure voluntary service. Seemingly unlikable at first, with a casual attitude and language, the character engages the viewers with some unique strengths emerging from a sincere place and he is deeply shaken by a friend’s death. An average of 1,717 solitary deaths occur in Korea every year, one every five hours. Mr. Kang’s life mirrors these solitary deaths and funerals. (LEE Seung-min)