Kim Jong-kwan is the writer and director of the 2019 South Korean drama film Shades of the Heart (아무도 없슔 곳), which stars Yeon Woo-jin, Lee Ji-eun, Yoon Hye-ri, Kim Sang-ho, and Lee Joo-young.
A novelist named Chang-seok returns to Korea after divorcing abroad and prepares to publish a book based on his personal experiences. After that, he runs across the lost Mi-young at a cafe inside a busy Euljiro subway station, who remembers their previous encounter. Yoo-jin, Chang-seok's editor, also meets him; she reflects on her past while sharing a cigarette remnant. The photographer Sung-ha, who is tending to his sick wife, is the next person he unintentionally encounters. Finally, after a vehicle accident, Chang-seok talks with Joo-eun, the bartender, who is trying to recall her recollections of her customers.
They discuss rather different topics when they first meet, but they are all linked by a common sense of loss and insecurity as each character tries to maintain their sanity in a culture that inspires existential fear. Chang-seok is marked by this, and it alters his thoughts and emotions. He also decides to start creating a new novel.
