Review

Colorless, Odorless is the first feature film by Lee Eunhee, whose previous experimental short films Machines Don’t Die (2022) and A Few Premises of Walking with Two Legs (2021) were produced in connection with art exhibitions. The work is closer to a traditional documentary than Lee's past creations, but it is also distinct in certain ways. One of them is the way it incorporates "clean notes"—a diary of working duties—to tell the stories of industrial accident victims working in the semiconductor field. The reality of the so-called "cleanroom" is laid bare in the journals of Hwang Yumi, whose case marked the first time a court recognized the connection between the semiconductor manufacturing process and incidences of cancer—a linkage that had previously been only the subject of rumors. Cleanrooms are described as spaces where even a speck of dirt cannot be tolerated, but they also house by-products that can cause leukemia, including benzene, formaldehyde, and ionizing radiation. Yet the workers' notes contain no references to safety or protection against exposure to these hazardous materials. As the caption in the film explains, "The cleanroom and the dust-free garments only protected the semiconductors—not her." In addition, the film goes beyond the stories in Korea to relate similar ones in Taiwan, showing these industrial disasters to be a worldwide phenomenon. Hearing the stories of the former workers who appear in the film’s second half is enough to leave viewers aching with anger and sadness. (MOON Seok)

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