This debut feature film from Bora Kim of a quiet and confused 14 year old Korean schoolgirl is loosely based on her own giving a real sense of authenticity to this unique coming-of-age story. Plus its also set in 1994 which proved a significant year in South Korea’s history.
Eighth-grader Eun-hee (Ji-hu Park) is the youngest sibling in a highly dysfunctional household. Her parents who own a rice cake store work all hours God sends, and when they are home are constantly quarrelling which even gets physically at times. Eun-hee’s bully of a brother Dae-hoon (Sang-yeon Sohn) beats her on a whim, and her older sister Su-hee (Su-yeon Park) uses her as means to hide the fact she is always out cavorting with her boyfriend.
The story slowly unwinds as we discover that this timid schoolgirl who is left to her own devices nearly all the time preferring to draw away in sketch book rather than focus on her school lessons. You can hardly blame her where the culture teacher insists that the who class chant out loud “Instead of karaoke, I will go to Seoul National University!” The latter is something that is certainly not in her own future.
Even when Eun-hee discovers a lump behind her ear she is expected to go to see the Doctor on her own, and when he says she needs a biopsy, her Mother still doesn’t turn up to sign the approval forms. Actually her stint in hospital is pleasant break from home, but when it is over we see a bandaged up Eun-hee having to head home on the bus alone.
Despite her very timid and calm demeanor she ends up with two suitors vying for her affection. One is a boy, Ji-wan (Yoon-seo Jeong), that she shares a couple of kisses with even as we can sense that it won’t last for long, and the other a girl named Yuri (Hye-in Seol), who offers her a kind of unrestrained affection that she has never really experienced before.
However the most significant person in her life is a tutor named Young-ji (Sae-byuk Kim), who takes over at the cram school class her parents make her attend . She spots Eun-hee’s unique talents and sees a potential in her that no-one has bothered to find out before. It is her role as a mentor and friend that adds some real feeling of hope and purpose into Eun-hee’s life.
As the year passes North Korea’s Leader leader Kim Il-sung dies suddenly, Seoul hosts Football’s World Cup , and the Seongsu Bridge over the Han River collapses. It is this latter fact that impacts on the story.
The absolute subtly of both the script and the direction has the film unfold at a slow gentle pace and thankfully totally avoids making a melodrama out of any of it. It’s a powerful yet tender examination of how this young girl is left adrift by her family who barely bother to notice at times. The fact that she will eventually succeed in her own path, what ever that turns out to be is to her remarkable credit ….. and to the very young Ji-hu Park for her exemplary performance,
P.S. The Movie is now streaming online https://kinomarquee.com/
Labels: 2020, coming of age, Korean, lesbian
