‘Gangwon-do’ consists of two irregularly intersecting stories happening in winter, in Gangwon province. A young man who is about to join the military travels from Cheolwon to Sokcho in search of his father. In the meantime, a woman who has escaped from her oppressive husband returns to her home village with the help of a kind stranger. Stories of these two characters, traveling in the opposite direction within the same spaces, unfold mysteriously.
On a winter day, a man and a woman, once college sweethearts, chance to meet at Incheon Airport after 25 years. When they meet again a week later, they realize their old flame still burns, feeling a romantic thrill and confusion at the same time.
One day, his mother who had sacrificed everything to a church to cure his elder brother's illness, kills herself. His good-for-nothing father has long been out of the picture, evading debtors. Siwan, left alone, goes to a provincial town and finds a young but revered minister of the church who has hidden himself in a small internet cafe. Siwan intends to avenge his mother himself but it's far from easy.
Kang Ho-chan is studying and preparing for his dream job as a TV station producer. Barely scraping by since his father's retirement, his family has high hopes for him. However, he fails time and time again to get into the station and eventually ends up getting a part-time job at a government office to support his family. One day, one full-time employee resigns and Ho-chan's boss offers him a permanent position. Ho-chan hesitates between his long-time dream of becoming a producer and a steady job.
This documentary film is about immigrant workers who live in Garibong-dong. The place is packed with desire, frustration and silence drawn by them. The camera lingers on them closely, but indifferently.
Prominent film critic Tony Rayns has long been a supporter of Korean cinema. This film illustrates Rayns’ affection for Korean cinema through interviews of Korean cineastes that have a special affinity for him, including JANG Sun-woo, LEE Chang-dong and HONG Sang-soo among others.
A man in a borrowed SUV picks up a woman outside Seoul’s domestic airport and drives her to a small enclave of restaurants, nightclubs and motels on the west coast. Both are middle-aged and married to other people, and know little about each other’s lives. After a seafood dinner and a visit to a karaoke lounge, they go to bed together for the first (and maybe last) time.
Divided into chapters, the documentary examines Jang's career and films from many different angles and includes the voices not only of those who have worked with Jang but also of numerous ordinary Koreans who have been affected by his work. Individual chapters are devoted to such topics as Jang's idiosyncratic hairstyle and the controversy surrounding his previous feature Lies. The documentary tries to place Jang and his work in the widest possible social context, not only in the context of Korean cinema. At its heart is a series of remarkably candid and revealing interviews with Jang himself.
The film consists of four episodes, all of which take place in Room 407 of Motel Cactus, a love hotel in Seoul.