An emotionally searing drama follows two grieving boys, transforming a fractured story of loss into a poignant meditation on blame, resilience, and unexpected hope.
Written and directed by Kim Sung-yoon, Fragment follows the parallel lives of two teens forever linked by a single act of violence. One is the son of a killer, the other an orphaned child of the victims. As their stories unfold, the film draws a quiet but unflinching portrait of children navigating an adult world that offers little compassion or clarity. With understated pacing and deeply human storytelling, Fragment explores grief, loneliness, and the quiet ache of inherited guilt with rare emotional precision.
Oh Ja-hun delivers a heartbreaking performance as Jun-gang, a boy forced to shoulder the weight of his father’s sins while caring for his younger sister in near poverty. He is quiet but determined, navigating eviction notices and schoolyard whispers with a strength well beyond his years. Ja-hun captures the restrained grief and desperate sense of responsibility that come from being forced to grow up too soon. His performance carries the weariness of a boy who wants to be good but doesn’t know if he’s allowed to.
Opposite him, Moon Seong-hyun plays Gi-su with raw emotional depth. Left alone after the murder of his parents, Gi-su is a shell of a child, consumed by rage and driven by a need for justice that borders on obsession. His silence is deafening, his gaze sharp and wounded. Seong-hyun’s portrayal avoids melodrama, instead capturing the real grief of a child who refuses to cry because the world has already taken too much. His slow unraveling and eventual reckoning are deeply affecting.
Visually, the film uses minimalism to its advantage. The camera lingers on small, often mundane details, inviting the audience into the boys’ interior worlds without overt exposition. Fragment relies on natural light and solo shots, emphasizing the stillness and isolation in each child’s routine. As the narrative begins to thread their experiences together, the shots become more intimate and increasingly deliberate, mirroring the slow, cautious steps they take toward an uncertain connection.
The score is sparse and somber, used sparingly to underscore emotional turning points without overwhelming the moment. Heavy with ambient noise, distant traffic, hallway footsteps, and the muffled drone of classroom lectures, the film creates a sense of grounded realism in fear and uncertainty that anchors the emotional weight of the story.
Instead of offering solutions, Fragment’s primary goal is to showcase an experience as it unfolds. It refuses to villainize either child, instead presenting them both as victims of a tragedy they did not choose. Their lives are fractured in a way that they can’t comprehend. The film dares to suggest that even among unimaginable pain, a fragile kind of grace and understanding can emerge. Fragment is a quiet cry for compassion. It offers heart-wrenching tension, and it gives voice to those who are often silenced in the wake of tragedy, the children left behind. With stunning performances, poignant direction, and emotional honesty, it is a haunting and deeply humane film that brings a world wind of emotions to its viewers.
Fantasia 2025 runs from July 16th to August 3rd 2025