Riceboy Sleeps

This isn't an action or drama movie. It's a realistic down to earth movie. It's more then just an immigrant family trying to adapt to life in a new country. It goes deeper then that. It's about a Mother's love for her son. It made me reflect back to my childhood and my mother trying to take care of me.

I even got a bit emotional watching this movie and that does not happen much. When the mother has to face the truth about her own mortality she still tries to help her son find his roots and himself.

I enjoyed the music and story line and I would not change one thing about how this movie was made. At first I was not even sure I would like this movie but I was shockingly surprised. I will watch it again.

A single mother and her young son immigrate from Korea to Canada, and she struggles (and reasonably succeeds) in making a new life and adjusting to their new surroundings. The story is told in 3 acts. First is when the son enters Grade 1, second is when he is a teenager in Canada, and third is when she takes him to Korea to learn about his roots.

The director gives memorable sweeping vistas of Korea, as opposed to the more gritty views of life in Canada. But neither country is fully accepting, and it is interesting to see the hypocrisy of a school that tolerates verbal assaults, but has zero tolerance of physical assault. Things do get easier as more immigrants arrive, and life becomes less lonely.

There are interesting vignettes of Korean culture, but they do not seem to drive the plot forward, and there are major loose ends.

One of my favorite Director ever is Richard Linklater. And watching this movie gave me vibes of the old Linklater movies. Though, this film is much more concise with an arc.

The movie is split into 3 part with 3 different moods. Begins as a coming of age story. Has the digital noise with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Colors are muted. And i thought at first it was just an artistic choice(being that it takes place in the 90's). However, it plays into the storytelling.

The things we talk about from our childhood after a certain age gets fuzzy. With every emotion turned up. The happy moments seem like the happiest one has ever been. While the sad moments are the worst.

The 2nd third, The colors and contrast changes. The cinematography is cleaner and warmer. But, still the aspect ratio is the same and still feels like 90s film with a slightly bigger budget. And it shows how the age of adolesence is quite a life turning experience. And the risks of escapism.

The final 3rd is much more modern. With a full screen ratio. And beautiful sweeping shots.

All in all. An amazing movie. Very well acted. The emotion is real and each moment with the characters is empathetic. Even some of the side characters are very endearing. A wonderful experience. And i recommend this to any fan of movies.

9/10.

I'm glad it wasn't all about immigration and integration. It captures what is being human when others see you as a mere immigrant. The discrimination and integration scenes might seem cliche but that is exactly what I (immigrant child in the 90's) went through. Changing name, food shame, parents views on violence, discipline etc.

When the boy goes to Korea to meet family he suddenly feels comfortable, that side of him that was only revealed at home with his mother now can come out and it's normal.. not something to give up on in the name of "integration". Now the blond hair that was meant to impress a Canadian audience feels dumb, he reaches more clarity with exposure to his roots.

But the story was always about the mother, not her as an immigrant but as a resilient woman that lived with love, never gave up and lived with love. It seems obvious but in all truth we don't give these kind of women enough credit. A simple story with so much depth that all people that have gone through this will know how accurate it is.

Watched it at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival. The movie was made on film so there was a grainy texture, an aged feeling. At times it felt like clips from someone's home video.

There was a lot of subtle humour, beautiful imagery, and endearing cultural input that I was very familiar with.

However, I was disappointed that the movie didn't excite me. Not excitement like joy or thrill. I just felt the movie was one cliche after another. It used a lot of common things that happened to immigrant families that got played out in numerous films already. I wished it had more character exploration and development outside of typical events. When they were so jam packed in a short time period, they didn't seem natural.

However, the film moved away from that in the third act. The ending felt like a breath of fresh air after being stuck in the basement for years.