If you're looking for a movie that translates the anxiety of self-quarantine during the year of the Coronavirus, I may have found the perfect film for you. Entitled #Alive, Cho Il-hyeong's zombie thriller has a timely mix of isolation, paranoia, desperation, and insanity. Its hero — bleached-blond gamer Jun-woo (Yoo Ah-in) — is basically an everday Joe whose everday world completely disappears when an airborn virus mysteriously turns the majority of the population into rabid cannibals with cataracted eyes. A good part of the movie involves him all alone holed up in his apartment while failing to get word from the outside world and figuring out how to survive off a poorly stocked fridge while watching human-monsters run around the streets in search of food like him.
Eventually he develops a survival-friendship (with a touch of a crush) with a young woman (Park Shin-hye) who lives in the residential complex across the street; she's equally suicidal but somewhat savvier and unquestionably more savage when it comes to fighting off the enemy. (I mean, she wields a mean scythe, although why she has one is less clear. Then again, who cares?) Each becomes the other's main support — together, yet at a distance — as they navigate a sucky reality where stepping outside is suddenly high-risk and your neighbors cannot be automatically trusted. I can't say it's as great as Train to Busan but as zombie flicks go, it's not just well-timed. It's exhillarating! It's also a reminder that things could always get worse. So here's to tomorrow!
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