Aloners- How a movie about the mundane 9-5 job can still hit home

This movie proved that a movie doesn't have to be about the supernatural, romance, a mystery-thriller or action packed to hit you right in the kokoro.

You can still make a movie about someone living a mundane life and still make it interesting.

Aloners is a movie about people living alone, young adults that have left the nest and are trying to become accustomed to their new lives and get on that good ole adulting grind.

The protagonist of this story reminded me a little of myself. Good at her job(not that) but no personal connections or relationships, kind of anti-social (yeaaah, here we go, this!). Everyday her routine is simple. Go to work, come back. Eat while watching a drama. Me. If this isn't us all.

Her Mom recently passed and her Dad that cheated on the Mom is back living in the Mom's house. Yujin lives in an apartment.

When she got a call from him she sounded emotionally exasperated with her Dad who took forever to get to the point of why he was calling - that was me too. I talk to my Mom like that. In fact it's even a pet peev of mine. Just get straight to the point!

I was also beginning to realize this recently, that I'm fine where I am and there's no point in being miserable, it's okay to accept this as my reality.

But... watching this movie... it really hit home and encouraged me. Hopefully it does the same for all you other young adults out there, with parents that may have let you down, or if you're living a compromised life that didn't meet your own high and delusional expectations.

At first, the indifferent protagonist Yujin seemed exasperated by her Dad but when her next-door neighbor, the wholesome skinny guy who greeted her every day, ends up killing himself, she is shocked and begins to show concern towards her Father who is in the same boat.

He always complained about how hard it is to live as alone as a man. She remembers the camera she installed at her Mom's house- where her Dad was currently living and turns it back on to monitor him in secret. His day to day becomes her new entertainment during her commute and distraction during work.

Meanwhile at her job, a credit card call center, they're hiring newbies. And Yujin is stuck with training a young girl named Sujin.

Yujin isn't the best trainee, she doesn't shelter Soojin from the harsh and unreasonable callers and doesn't give her any counselling after the shock of rude customers because she was never given that sort of training either. This is where we learn just how indifferent she is to other people.

When Yujin tells her to apologize to the customer that started yelling and cursing at her the moment she picked up the call, Soojin couldn't stomach it.

"Why should I have to apologize?" She muttered in shock. She felt she hadn't done anything wrong, but when dealing with such customers it's actually protocol, even if it isn't.

Customer Service means catering to madness and unreasonable people.

This is the reality of call centers. And I love that it was included in the movie.

Dealing with frustrated customers/deranged customers, talking them down from their rage so you can help them. The stigma around young workers never lasting and elders trying to bar youth from working. I've never worked at a call center, but I do remember my interview for one and how uncertain the woman looked about me so she tried to talk me out of applying. As well as various people in my family having worked there as well.

I worked in the food industry for a while, and I love the job, just hate dealing with people for similar reasons.

The youth don't get the support they need when starting the job for the first time because of people like Yujin and her team leader. I feel like everyone will start off as a Soojin but end up becoming a Yujin as with most jobs, the youth are left to fend for themselves.

When something goes wrong with a customer there's no counselling/consolation as to how they may have felt, or as to inform who was in the wrong, they're simply left with the shock and feeling that they did something terribly wrong.

That's why when you get sunny co-workers, who are considerate they're truly a blessing.

As a rookie all you'll see is everyone around you sighing and you'll think it's your fault as you can't keep up.

And with time depending on their own will power they'll push and overcome it, but for some that's not the case. They're left with a stress that builds with each and every passing day and eventually they reach their limit.

For Soojin the latter was the case. She tried adapting but as a young girl she still wasn't used to doing certain things on her own and needed some hand holding, she also felt embarrassed because of that and felt like a failure.

It sucked for Yujin as Soojin was beginning to grow on her and perhaps even remind her of herself.

Towards the end of the movie, Yujin gets over herself and gives Soojin a call. Soojin picks up later during the day and the two have a touching heart to heart. Yujin admits that she was just like Soojin when she started and that she still isn't accustomed to being alone she just pretends like she is, so that it's okay.

Nothing major may happen in this movie but it still feels major because of the feels and the relatability. Especially when Yujin pays some actual attention to her new neighbor and hangs out with him after he holds a memorial for the old neighbor.

Not sure if they were saying she was beginning to catch feels or if she was fascinated with the new neighbor mimicking the old one unknowingly though, but I'll take it.

If you got this far, thanks for reading!