Rub Love

Rare to find a woman directing anything in Korea, let alone a 23-year-old directing a post-feminist sci-fi feature about her emotional disconnection from society and desire for escape - and so Rub Love is kind of special. We're in 2028. Nana is a sleek young hitwoman with three hits to her credit, who installs herself in Motel 99 to stake out the louche nightclub opposite, where she will carry out her final hit before retiring to China. Her neighbour in the motel is a nerdy cartoonist with an over-active fantasy life who throws himself at her feet and tries to make her stay by slipping her a drug to erase her memories. Uncompromisingly bloody, wittily designed, and remarkably well acted (not least by Klausner as a seedy black marketeer), this is a genuine original. Lee, who wrote the script for 301, 302, clearly has great things in prospect.