March 3, 2023
FILM: RETURN TO SEOUL
DIRECTED BY: DAVY CHOU
STARRING: PARK JI-MIN, OH KWANG-ROK, GUKA HAN
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Cultural differences and adoption are the major focuses of Return to Seoul, Cambodia’s recent submission for the Oscars. (It wasn’t nominated.) In the very first scenes we meet Freddie, a young woman who was born in South Korea, but was quickly adopted by a French couple. While she still resides in France, she has traveled somewhat by accident to Seoul, speaks no Korean, and fluently speaks English to the initial friends she meets upon returning to her birth city. She also knows nothing about Korean culture making her question and defy customs such as having others serve your beverage as a sign of respect.
Freddie is a harsh, very assertive, and free-spirited woman. She is not afraid to break out and meet people or dance by herself as a form of release. It’s not until the story builds a bit more that we begin to see the emotional effects of her early adoption. While in Seoul, she goes to an adoption agency to find her biological parents. Whether this is something she’s wanted to do for some time or not is never made clear. She does have holes in her life that need to be filled though.
When her father is located, he and his family wholeheartedly accept Freddie. They want her to stay with them but Freddie is damaged in a way that doesn’t allow for this kind of family intimacy. Sadly, the film doesn’t really explore much of the relationship she has with her adoptive parents. Save for one Zoom call, we never really get a sense as to the quality of her bond with them.
There are three jumps ahead in time as Freddie’s life takes various turns that are often questionable and a bit self-destructive. Each of these leaps returns her, for various reasons, back to Seoul. Clearly she feels some kind of innate pull towards Korea but will visiting there ever fill those enduring holes?
It is obvious that Freddie was emotionally affected by her adoption. She feels disconnected, unloved, and overwhelmed by the people she meets in Seoul. In this sense I think the film will relate to anyone who has ever experienced adoption, either as a parent or as the adoptee. It’s a solid exploration of a pretty universal practice. I don’t know that the film sheds any significant new light on the subject but it does present a pretty fascinating, if somewhat languid, narrative about how cultural differences and emotions might affect the search for one’s biological parents.
Lead actress Park Ji-min is very good as Freddie having to show multiple sides of the character’s personality. She has to mature and retreat a few times in the film but that makes her journey solid and relatable.
Interestingly, Return to Seoul doesn’t offer us any references to Cambodia even though the film did become the country’s Oscar entry. Filmmaker Davy Chou was born in France. The film itself was shot in Seoul. Usually such a submission occurs because a country, such as Cambodia, contributed a significant amount to the production costs. How much is unclear at this time. Regardless this is a solid film about cultural identity and adoption.
Return to Seoul opens this week at the Music Box Theater in Chicago.
FILM: RETURN TO SEOUL
DIRECTED BY: DAVY CHOU
STARRING: PARK JI-MIN, OH KWANG-ROK, GUKA HAN
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Cultural differences and adoption are the major focuses of Return to Seoul, Cambodia’s recent submission for the Oscars. (It wasn’t nominated.) In the very first scenes we meet Freddie, a young woman who was born in South Korea, but was quickly adopted by a French couple. While she still resides in France, she has traveled somewhat by accident to Seoul, speaks no Korean, and fluently speaks English to the initial friends she meets upon returning to her birth city. She also knows nothing about Korean culture making her question and defy customs such as having others serve your beverage as a sign of respect.
Freddie is a harsh, very assertive, and free-spirited woman. She is not afraid to break out and meet people or dance by herself as a form of release. It’s not until the story builds a bit more that we begin to see the emotional effects of her early adoption. While in Seoul, she goes to an adoption agency to find her biological parents. Whether this is something she’s wanted to do for some time or not is never made clear. She does have holes in her life that need to be filled though.
When her father is located, he and his family wholeheartedly accept Freddie. They want her to stay with them but Freddie is damaged in a way that doesn’t allow for this kind of family intimacy. Sadly, the film doesn’t really explore much of the relationship she has with her adoptive parents. Save for one Zoom call, we never really get a sense as to the quality of her bond with them.
There are three jumps ahead in time as Freddie’s life takes various turns that are often questionable and a bit self-destructive. Each of these leaps returns her, for various reasons, back to Seoul. Clearly she feels some kind of innate pull towards Korea but will visiting there ever fill those enduring holes?
It is obvious that Freddie was emotionally affected by her adoption. She feels disconnected, unloved, and overwhelmed by the people she meets in Seoul. In this sense I think the film will relate to anyone who has ever experienced adoption, either as a parent or as the adoptee. It’s a solid exploration of a pretty universal practice. I don’t know that the film sheds any significant new light on the subject but it does present a pretty fascinating, if somewhat languid, narrative about how cultural differences and emotions might affect the search for one’s biological parents.
Lead actress Park Ji-min is very good as Freddie having to show multiple sides of the character’s personality. She has to mature and retreat a few times in the film but that makes her journey solid and relatable.
Interestingly, Return to Seoul doesn’t offer us any references to Cambodia even though the film did become the country’s Oscar entry. Filmmaker Davy Chou was born in France. The film itself was shot in Seoul. Usually such a submission occurs because a country, such as Cambodia, contributed a significant amount to the production costs. How much is unclear at this time. Regardless this is a solid film about cultural identity and adoption.
Return to Seoul opens this week at the Music Box Theater in Chicago.