In recent years, Korea's independent film sector has produced quite a few worthwhile efforts about the experiences of immigrants and foreign workers in South Korea, like Land of Scarecrows, Seri & Harr, Where is Ronny, Bandhobi, and Hello, Stranger. Recently released on DVD, the indie drama Hello, Stranger is the second film from director Kim Dong Hyun, whose previous A Shark stood out for its compelling mix of human drama and black comedy. Like A Shark, Hello, Stranger operates on the premise of encounter and adventure with a simple story that's both loaded and light. The film can be considered a social drama with its depiction of the misunderstandings and challenges faced by those at the margin, but it also plays out like a fish-out-of-water buddy road movie.

The film revolves around two outsiders, a North Korean defector and an illegal Vietnamese migrant worker, who meet by chance. Jin Wook (Park In Soo) just recently settled in Seoul, and still has much to learn about life in the South. Ting Woon (Quang Soo) came to Korea looking for his girlfriend, but he's been cheated of his pay and ends up hopping on the wrong bus. Jin Wook is on that same bus, and he goes the extra frustrating mile to help Ting Woon out, something the seasoned Seoul urbanite would presumably not do.

Jin Wook and Ting Woon don't speak a common language, save for some attempts at broken English, but there is a commonality to their predicaments that both sense right away despite the language and cultural barrier. Ting Woon obstinately latches on to Jin Wook, and Jin Wook, almost despite himself, accompanies his happenstance friend to the thankless end of the road. There is a humorous undertone to their interactions, as they communicate by projecting their own unrosy circumstances into the other's words. Neither leads are experienced actors, with Quang Soo being particularly unreadable, but this reinforces their roles as strangers to the audience and to each other.

Hello, Stranger excels in the small moments, careful characterizations, and deliberate dialogue that reveal a lot while saying little. We don't know all that much about the taxi driver who drove Jin Wook around for one long night looking for his apartment, but her admission to being a North Korean defector who's perfected her Seoul accent and prefers to avoid other defectors speaks volumes. Meanwhile, the one line of Korean that Ting Woon reveals he knows shoots straight for the gut, signaling the exploitation that Southeast Asian migrant workers commonly confront.

Kim Dong Hyun touches on uncomfortable social issues and individual struggles in Hello, Stranger, but he also keeps things brisk with occasional wry humor and capricious turns. Certainly the tone of the film is far from dismal even during its darkest moments, because the protagonists are so honest and human, and their brief friendship so heartening. It's not easy watching every Korean indie that comes out on DVD - some of them are pretty hard to get through - but it's the chance to discover minor gems like Hello, Stranger that makes me watch them all.