I have not been writing for quite a while, have I? No excuses there except I have Korean Language class every weekend and decide to spend some quality time with family on top of all the fangirling I was doing on the side. And my job.

Excuses aside, I decided to start writing reviews again. But since I am currently obsessed with Do Kyungsoo, who is also known as D.O. from a K-Pop group called EXO, I decided to watch his acting debut in this movie called 카트 (Cart) in 2014, which received raving reviews from critics both for the movie and the newbie’s acting.

But what do I think? It’s all under the cut.

카트 (Cart) was inspired by a real life event, which happened in 2007 – a supermarket chain called Homever dismissed temporary workers, mostly made up of women, and replaced them with outsourced employees to bypass a new law in which employers are required to give their workers a regular-worker status after a certain period.

Apart from the name of the supermarket chain, the movie is almost the same except for a little dramatization here and there which the director and writers actually did in fact mention at the start of the movie. It revolves around a star employee of a large retail supermarket, Sun-hee, a mother of two, who works alongside Hye-Mi, a single mother, and Soon-rye, a cleaning lady of retirement age. Sun-hee was promised a regular employee status after working so hard including working overtime without any pay, all to keep her family afloat while her husband is away. However, it took a turn when it was announced that they are all fired and replaced by outsourced employees. Hye-Mi, Soon-rye and Sun-hee decided to take a stand against the company’s unfair dismissal.

Yum Jung-ah did an exceptional job as Sun-hee, struggling to keep her family together. Her portrayal of Sun-hee’s quiet strength and resilience was amazing to watch. And it’s not just her but the strong women in the movie are just inspirational – particularly Moon Jung-hee and Kim Young-ae, who passed away recently (may she rest in peace).

But the star of the show was the then 21-year-old newcomer by the name of Do Kyungsoo, acting as the teenage son of Sun-hee, who is struggling to keep up with his peers who are more well-to-do than him. Kyungsoo did very well in showing the character’s internalized issues and anger. To think that he had no acting training at all.

Apart from the casting, the writers did a great job of humanizing the topic. When we listen to news, we hardly think about the people affected. Not just them but the people around them like their families. The movie did well in telling the stories of these employees, focusing mainly on the main characters but also showing bits and pieces of others as well.

All in all, the movie deserves all the accolades it received. It made people sit up and listen. Its message resonates across everyone.

I give this movie a 5 out of 5. I can’t find any fault in this movie even if I tried.

Trailer: