DEBT

Summary

DEBT (2024) is a grounded social drama about Daebok, a struggling small-business owner caught in a worsening financial crisis. With alimony payments and utility bills overdue, he is already under pressure when the economic recession makes borrowing easier than earning. Credit loans continue to accumulate, but his business provides little or no income, leaving him trapped in a cycle of debt that grows more threatening by the day. Daebok also carries the burden of a troubled household. His unemployed son, Hongmin, offers little practical help, and the strained relationship between them reflects the frustration and helplessness of a family with few options left. Their personal difficulties become even more urgent when Wonchang, himself behind on his credit obligations, confronts Daebok with an intimidating demand. What begins as a financial dispute gradually exposes the desperation, resentment, and vulnerability shared by people at different points in the same economic collapse. Rather than treating debt as merely a private problem, the film presents it as a force that reshapes family relationships, dignity, and moral judgment. Daebok’s struggle raises questions about responsibility and survival: how much can an individual be blamed when the systems around him seem designed to keep him indebted, and what happens when financial pressure turns ordinary people against one another? With its focus on mounting bills, unstable work, and coercive lending, DEBT offers a bleak but human-scale portrait of recession-era anxiety and the emotional cost of living without a way out.