A man struggles to make sense of love in this drama from South Korea. A music teacher is looking forward to the Christmas holidays, but his mood is goes from bright to blue when his girlfriend breaks up with him on Christmas Eve. Feeling out of sorts and with nothing to do, the teacher wanders the streets of Seoul, carrying a gift given to him by the daughter of the woman he loved and looking for someone to talk to until he happens upon a fellow teacher. Later, the teacher meets a woman who, like himself, has been through a bad breakup, and he offers to listen to her as she talks about her troubles. The two agree at the beginning that their relationship is to be strictly platonic as she tries to make sense of the wreckage of her love life, but over the course of several days the teacher finds it increasingly difficult to hide his feelings for his new friend. The first feature film from critic turned director Jung Sing-Il, Cafe Noir was an official selection at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi