'84 Square Meters' Director Kim Tae-jun "Captured My Real Experience with Noise Between Floors"

A personal experience with noise between floors has been transformed into a film. The new work by Director Kim Tae-jun, 〈84 Square Meters〉, is the result.

On the 21st, at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Director Kim explained the background of the film's production and shared his real experiences. "The upstairs neighbors made noise every morning, which stressed me out a lot, and I once went up to ask them to be careful," he recalled. "But after that, I started hearing sounds that seemed intentional," he added.

〈84 Square Meters〉 is a life-immersive thriller depicting Woo-sung (played by Kang Ha-neul), who successfully acquires his own home but gradually becomes worn down by noise between floors and takes steps to resolve the issue. Director Kim said, "I planned the work to capture the irritation and anger towards retaliatory noise, and ironically, the day I completed the first draft, the upstairs neighbors moved out."

However, an unexpected twist awaited. The problematic noise continued even in the early morning of the month after the upstairs neighbors moved out. Director Kim revealed, "I realized, 'Ah, it wasn't the upstairs neighbors,' and I think my perspective on noise between floors changed for the first time." The scene in which Woo-sung fails to find the source of the noise and wanders through the neighboring houses comes from this director's real experience.

The film goes beyond simple conflicts over noise between floors and sheds light on housing issues in modern society. The protagonist's efforts to gather loans to the maximum and even sell his mother's rural field to secure a 'self-owned home' in Seoul reflect the director's awareness of the problem.

Director Kim stated, "I also want to live in Seoul and want to live in an apartment," adding, "It seems like a goal I have taken for granted since childhood, but I started to think, 'Why was that taken for granted?'" He continued, "I thought it was strange to spend my life 'pulling together' to buy a poorly constructed apartment with serious noise between floors."

The work incorporates various social phenomena layered around the issue of noise between floors, including construction corruption and the coin craze. Director Kim emphasized, "I thought the problem of noise between floors should not be simply trivialized for entertainment."

He also shared his views on previous works dealing with the same subject. Regarding the box office success of the horror film 〈Noise〉 starring Lee Sun-bin, Director Kim said, "Seeing that audiences resonate with the subject of noise between floors made me realize it is indeed a timely topic," adding, "I think I gained a lot of strength seeing 〈Noise〉 do well."

For his next project, he hinted at maintaining the thriller genre while trying something new. His previous work, 〈I Just Dropped My Smartphone〉 (2023), which captured the fear of smartphone hacking, is expected to be another thriller like this one. Director Kim said, "I want to do a thriller, but I think it would be more interesting if it combines with sports or romance rather than being a pure thriller," hinting at a new feeling for his next work.