Yeon Sang-ho's AI Thriller "Paradise Lost" Opens in U.S. Theaters November 6
A mother spends nine years with an AI copy of her missing son in "Paradise Lost," a psychological thriller from South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho. The film opens in U.S. theaters on November 6, according to Well Go USA, the film's distributor.
The story follows Ryu So-young, played by Kim Hyun-joo, who keeps company with a digital version of her son, Sun-woo. Bae Hyeon-seong plays Sun-woo. He was abducted on a school camping trip. The AI recreation stays 10 years old, and it is seen through augmented reality glasses. The bond holds until the real boy comes home, and that return is where the film's tension turns.
Yeon is best known outside Korea for "Train to Busan," the zombie hit about a father and daughter trapped on a train. He has also returned to artificial intelligence before. His 2023 Netflix film "JUNG_E" is an AI-themed story as well. His zombie thriller "Colony" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and "Paradise Lost" had its own premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The idea started on the page with someone close to him. According to ABC News, the story grew out of a roughly three-page tale written by Yeon's mother. She worked as a homemaker and as a cleaner. Yeon never formally studied screenwriting, and he has built his career by learning the craft on the job.
The title borrows from John Milton's epic poem about humanity's expulsion from paradise. Milton's work is about a fall that cannot be undone, and the film asks a similar question about what a family can rebuild and what it cannot. Well Go USA has also released a new clip that shows a police-station scene, in which officers question a person about a suspicious individual with no identification.
For American audiences, the film arrives as AI-generated voices and faces have become a common topic in everyday life. Here the technology is not a gadget or a special effect. It is a stand-in for a child that a mother refuses to let go of. The film is a thriller first, though, and its pull comes from the mystery of what really happened to Sun-woo.
"Paradise Lost" opens in U.S. theaters on November 6. The cast includes Kim Hyun-joo and Bae Hyeon-seong, and Yeon Sang-ho directed.
