Film follows Korean high school seniors who chose the mountains over college

A scene from “The Mountain Goats" / Courtesy of Cinema DAL

Being a high school senior and not knowing what to do with your life is considered a major problem in Korea.

When four students submit blank career-planning forms ahead of their counseling sessions, they immediately find themselves under special supervision. Their teacher, determined to rehabilitate these wandering souls and send them to universities in Seoul, begins preparing them for admissions interviews.

The students are forced to give all the right answers, down to what they like and what they want to do with their lives. The exercise does little to lift their spirits. They already spend most of the school day sleeping and see their school as a lifeless place. But when the school farm where they used to raise rabbits, chickens and ducks is slated to close, the students begin to realize what they want.

Unveiled at a press screening last Wednesday, "The Mountain Goats," the tentative title of the independent film, follows four students who begin building a life in the mountains with their college entrance exams looming.

A scene from “The Mountain Goats" / Courtesy of Cinema DAL

Each student has a different reason for moving to the mountains. In-hye (Park Hye-jin) initially heads there to find a new home for the animals but later becomes determined to test her own strength in the wilderness.

For Seo-hee (Lee Seung-yeon), who is so consumed with survival that she carries a survival knife everywhere, the mountains offer the perfect training ground. Jeong-ae (Park Hyo-eun), who likes animals because anything that wears clothes makes her uncomfortable, begins carving out her own path alongside Su-min (Choi Su-in), who reluctantly joins the group at her friends’ urging. Together, the students begin making their own way through the mountains.

The small space they had created for the animals gradually becomes a sanctuary for the girls themselves, a place where a friend will always be waiting. It is not all rosy or smooth sailing from the start. The teenagers clash, misunderstand one another, give in to selfishness and sometimes act foolishly, as teenagers inevitably do.

But the four girls eventually begin to learn what it means to “survive.” It is different from how the word is used at school, which usually involves high exam scores and crushing others for a spot at a good university. In the mountains, survival means living alongside animals once destined to be culled and classmates who had felt isolated at school. It means learning to coexist and finding a new way forward.

A scene from “The Mountain Goats" / Courtesy of Cinema DAL

The film does not have its audience watching the mountains all the way to the end. The girls venture beyond the wilderness to rescue other animals, travel together and spend time with ducks and rabbits. The story is markedly different from conventional teen-centered films of the past, which have usually dealt with romance, feeling lost or the pressures of Korea’s intensely competitive education and college admissions system.

Director Yoo Jae-wook said he wanted to create a girls’ adventure unlike anything previously seen in Korean cinema.

“I wanted it to be a story about young women adapting to the wilderness and, at the same time, a story of friendship.”

The script was co-written by Yoo and his wife, writer Geum Hyo-jae.

Ironically, one animal remains conspicuously absent until the credits roll, even though it gives the film its title. The obvious question came up at the press screening. Yoo said he saw a resemblance between the mountain goats and the girls, as both have the potential to go wherever they want.

Asked why he chose that animal in particular, Yoo said the idea came to him while watching mountain goats at a rescue center.

"They practically running up the cliff, and I thought it looked like the girls. The four friends may seem lost, but they are actually capable of going anywhere, just like those goats. That is why I titled the film ‘The Mountain Goats.’”

The film won the Actor of the Year Award at last year’s Busan International Film Festival and the Independent Star Award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival. The film opened Wednesday and is rated 12 and older.

A scene from “The Mountain Goats" / Courtesy of Cinema DAL

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.