Love ‘em or Hate ‘em, Korean indie films on their good days do provide a fresh of breath air from all the glossy, but ultimately hollow, commercial films piped out of Chungmuro vis a vis Kangnam. Such recent indie gems like “Boys of Tomorrow” and “Ad Lib Night” is confirmation enough that you don’t need big bucks to make compelling films. Now there’s another film, “Nowhere to Turn,” that you can place into that group.

In “Nowhere to Turn,” possibly bi-polar Su-yeon (Su-yeon Cha), dreams of studying music abroad. Unfortunately, her family lacks the financial means to fulfill her wishes and, as a matter of fact, Su-yeon may lack the talent needed to make her dreams come true. Yet having a dream is nearly as important as the dream itself and Su-yeon never veers from attaining those dreams.

Su-yeon then picks up a job teaching piano to little kids, but she doesn’t have the concentration to stay there for very long. After she’s fired from her job, she stays over at Dong-ho’s apartment. Dong-ho is like a puppy to Su-yeon, she knows he’s in love with her and has been so for awhile. Su-yeon then meets an intriguing musician whose only interested in her for sex. Before he can act out his desires with Su-yeon, his live-in girlfriend quickly puts an end to their relationship.

Now Su-yeon is back with Dong-ho. She encounters a girl that seems to take interest in Dong-ho and Su-yeon has no problems telling her a white lie (that Dong-ho has AIDS), just to keep her away. Now Su-yeon and Dong-ho have only each other. They decided to form a duo and enter an upcoming musical competition. Will they finally achieve their dreams?

Let’s get the drawbacks out of the way first since the positives far outweigh the negatives. Su-yeon Cha admirably tries to play a quirky character that someone like Du-na Bae can pull off in her sleep, but Su-yeon seems to lack the comical touch to really make Su-yeon come to life (this is the type of character that should jump out and take your heart away). If Su-yeon could have pulled this off than “Nowhere to Turn” would have been off the charts, but alas her performance is just serviceable. The other drawback to “Nowhere to Turn” is the lack of freshness in critical areas of the movie. The dreamy youth smitten with airports (seen this with Du-na Bae in Take Care of My Cats), the girl stealing her brother’s electronic device to support her musical dreams (Swing Girls), and the girl having a puppy dog like male friend that she forsakes for others (gazillions of other films) were all angles that you’ve seen many times before and probably done more effectively.

Where “Nowhere to Turn” does stand out is in two distinct areas. First, the movie does a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the “Hongdae” area of Seoul. Although the movie never states where the movie is filmed, if you have set foot around the Hongdae area (an area filled with hip art students & music crazed fans) you’ll have sweet memories come flashing through your mind. This is especially appropriate with “Nowhere to Turn,” because it relies so heavily on indie music, which itself is a hallmark of the Hongdae area.

The other aspect of “Nowhere to Turn” that is likely to grab your attention is the theme of the movie itself. Sure you’ve seen plenty of films with ultra-talented geniuses or films with “natural born losers” with nowhere to go, but how often do you see films with folks that have talent, but may not have enough of it to get them where they want to go? Where’s reality for these folks? A dead end 9-5 job or continue to pursue their dreams no matter how long the odds? From that question, you can better understand the movie’s title “Nowhere to Turn.”