Jeongcheol is in his mid-30s and is working in a soybean paste factory. His mentally disturbed sister Suyeon occasionally runs away from home. His young niece Hana is sad since she wants to learn to play piano but can´t afford it. His friend Myeonghun likes Suyeon and wants to attend to her wish of becoming an actress. Jinyeong is very fond of Jeongcheol, but he can´t be affectionate toward her because he is so exhausted by other relationships surrounding him.

Park Jungbum‘s second feature film Alive gives a suffocating feeling as if the story develops with its teeth clenched.

Since so many characters are interrelated, many of the scenes show group of people surrounding Jeongcheol. Whereas the haves and the have-nots are contrasted, the latter are struggling too hard to share what they have, making it inevitable to hurt each other and take pains to heal the wounds.

Jeongcheol, played by the director himself, is a character who bears the depth of the pain: his pain engraved on the screen is tangible, almost distressing the eyes of the audience.

The mixed perception toward human tragicomedy is fully captured in this ambitious film, which reaches to optimistism after all.