SisaWeek — Reporter Lee Young-sil The anthology film Times at the Theater, which explores the memories and emotions tied to cinema spaces, finds one of its strongest draws in the distinctive supporting performances that pepper its episodes. Oh Man-seok, Kim Deut-dol and Shim Hae-in anchor those moments, each adding dimensionality to the film by giving voice to different perspectives across separate stories.
Times at the Theater brings together three shorts by directors Lee Jong-pil, Yoon Ga-eun and Jang Kun-jae. Through the viewpoints of audiences, filmmakers and theater staff, the film unspools the layered memories and feelings a cinema accumulates. By threading together personal histories and the passage of time centered on the theater, the anthology gives those everyday moments a resonant, cinematic frame.
In each segment, supporting players help shape the narrative in subtle but crucial ways. In Lee Jong-pil’s episode "Chimpanzee," Oh Man-seok appears as a zookeeper. When "Young Godo," Momo and Jeje visit the zoo, he tells them about a chimpanzee from Poland, answering their questions and nudging the story forward. The zookeeper functions as the connective tissue that guides the characters into direct encounter with the animal and steers the episode’s emotional arc.
Oh Man-seok, who debuted on stage in the play Cadenza, has carved out a steady screen career with roles in films such as Nameless Gangster and Hunt and the television drama Dr. Romantic 2. He has also been active in the indie film scene with titles like About My Daughter, Jangson and Seagulls on the Morning Sea, demonstrating a broad acting range.
Singer-songwriter and actor Kim Deut-dol also appears in the same episode, playing Seoyoon, a zoo employee who discovers a note left by Godo, now a filmmaker, and then visits the theater. Though her role is brief, a scene of her watching a film with friends captures the ordinary rhythms of theatergoing and helps ground the episode in everyday detail.
Kim made her screen debut as Mina in Jang Kun-jae’s film I Hate Korea. As a musician, she draws from folk while incorporating textures from shoegaze, dream pop and psychedelic music.
Shim Hae-in appears as the thread that ties the film’s beginning and end. She plays a novice projectionist who spends a day with an elderly projectionist in the prologue and epilogue that bookend the three shorts. Those projection-room sequences unfold with the quiet, observational clarity of a lived-in record of theater life.
Shim drew attention after winning the Best Actress award at the 2025 Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival for her signed performance in the short Sisters' Hike. For Times at the Theater, she reportedly trained with Hong Seong-hee, a longtime Cinecube projectionist, learning the hands-on mechanics of film projection to prepare for the role.
Shaped by the three directors’ perspectives and buoyed by committed performances from its supporting cast, Times at the Theater opens on the 18th.
