Jasmin hears that her long-lost father Toussaint’s health is worsening. Toussaint is an illegal immigrant from Haiti, who is losing his memory from vascular dementia. After seeing the shabby and dirty house of Toussaint, Jasmin brings him to her home in Mexico City. Despite living together, she feels more awkward with her father than anybody else. And while Toussaint fails to recollect many things, some memories of the past shine brighter than ever. Jasmin, who has also endured a great deal of loneliness, slowly opens up her heart as she watches over her father. Claudia Sainte-Luce showed the earnest bond and empathy in a family-like relationship in her debut work Amazing Catfish (2013). In this second feature, The Empty Box, as the director and lead, she once more speculates about the issue of family, specifically the wounds left by an estranged family and the lack of understanding between generations. Such issues faced by Toussaint and Jasmin are conflicts existing in all families. But the director delicately juxtaposes the two characters’ memories and perspectives and slowly brings them to a closer distance, thus evoking deep empathy from this seemingly ordinary subject. (Jin PARK)