"Return to Seoul" depicts that of the title itself. It's a story of adoptee and I feel that it's unapologetically French in many ways, even though I haven't watched that many French films. It's centered around an adoptee named Freddie and explores her story throughout the years as she tries to grapple with her identity.
I'd like to start off by saying that I thought Park Jimin, the first time actress who played Freddie was wonderful. It's hard to believe that this is her very first acting credit. She gave subtle and nuanced performance that many people who are well into their careers could not pull off. Freddie was an interesting character for sure. She is headstrong and energetic. Even though she has Korean features (as one of the characters in the movie claimed), she definitely stands out as if she's from another era, especially with her hair and style. The audience also senses a constant weariness of visiting Korea yet an irresistible pull toward it as she keeps coming back to the country for various reasons.
I think it was difficult for me to like it as much as I feel like I would have because it was so clear to me that the director was non-Korean. Many times where Freddie interacted with members of her country, I braced myself for moments of cringe, or awkwardness I feel with the depiction of my own country and its people. I felt most of that with the dad (played by Oh Kwang Rok). For some reason, he felt so awkward though he's a veteran performer. I can't quite pinpoint why I felt off with him but the father-daughter relationship as a result felt strange to me at best. I couldn't quite distinguish if this was an issue with the direction or just my lack of empathy towards biological parents and adoptees. I couldn't quite understand why some people would ask her to stay and live in Korea as I could hardly imagine someone having the audacity to ask that. Freddie's reaction to visiting Korea was similar to mine but that also made watching the movie uncomfortable for me at the same time.
I understand the approach of making her so distinctively "non-Korean" (dancing in the middle of a bar randomly) and making her environment very "Korean" was to portray the clash in a dramatic way but I felt that was unnatural and inorganic. Would I have liked this movie more if it was about a Chinese adoptee, for example? I am not sure but it made me learn the importance of my own cultural context when viewing films.
I'd like to start off by saying that I thought Park Jimin, the first time actress who played Freddie was wonderful. It's hard to believe that this is her very first acting credit. She gave subtle and nuanced performance that many people who are well into their careers could not pull off. Freddie was an interesting character for sure. She is headstrong and energetic. Even though she has Korean features (as one of the characters in the movie claimed), she definitely stands out as if she's from another era, especially with her hair and style. The audience also senses a constant weariness of visiting Korea yet an irresistible pull toward it as she keeps coming back to the country for various reasons.
I think it was difficult for me to like it as much as I feel like I would have because it was so clear to me that the director was non-Korean. Many times where Freddie interacted with members of her country, I braced myself for moments of cringe, or awkwardness I feel with the depiction of my own country and its people. I felt most of that with the dad (played by Oh Kwang Rok). For some reason, he felt so awkward though he's a veteran performer. I can't quite pinpoint why I felt off with him but the father-daughter relationship as a result felt strange to me at best. I couldn't quite distinguish if this was an issue with the direction or just my lack of empathy towards biological parents and adoptees. I couldn't quite understand why some people would ask her to stay and live in Korea as I could hardly imagine someone having the audacity to ask that. Freddie's reaction to visiting Korea was similar to mine but that also made watching the movie uncomfortable for me at the same time.
I understand the approach of making her so distinctively "non-Korean" (dancing in the middle of a bar randomly) and making her environment very "Korean" was to portray the clash in a dramatic way but I felt that was unnatural and inorganic. Would I have liked this movie more if it was about a Chinese adoptee, for example? I am not sure but it made me learn the importance of my own cultural context when viewing films.