A weekend away from the dense urban sprawl of Seoul becomes a journey into the heart of darkness via minivan. Not the expected outcome for a visit with Mother Nature, but in Director Park Chong-won's fourth film, the countryside is the perfect setting to explore the dark underbelly of relationships and human instincts.

Min-su and Byung-kwan look forward to reuniting with their high school friend, Chang-hyun, who abandoned a promising theater career for the solitude of a rainbow trout farm in the mountains. They are accompanied by Jung-wha, Min-su's wife (and Chang-hyun's former lover); her sister, Sae-wha; and Byung-kwan's wife, Young-sook. At first, the visitors enjoy their country living, but soon, the very things that they love about it--serene landscape, friendly people and deliciously fresh fish--become harbingers of boredom, then uneasiness and finally terror.

Park masterfully builds tension by letting uncomfortable silences breathe, highlighting the awkwardness in social interactions and unfolding each character's vulnerability. By isolating his characters from all the familiar distractions of urban life, Park leaves them no escape from themselves, their insecurities or their past. Jealousy, lust, unrequited love and repression bubble toward the surface, creating the perfect atmosphere for an explosion or two. RAINBOW TROUT tells us that our carefully wrought personas are comically fragile and that the countryside is no place for soft-palmed city folk.