Riceboy Sleeps

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.

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.

Not for the faint of heart, Riceboy Sleeps is one of the finest films of the last few years. The coming-of-age story takes on many themes involving race, identity, and family while remaining an incredibly personal and original testament to the experience of an immigrant mother and son. It provides an insight into a world otherwise impossible to fathom. Excellent camera perspectives throughout and beautifully shot, following each character almost too long but with a beautiful intent. The aspect ratio changes several times throughout and appears to be on real film stock, giving marvelous saturation to each scene and the degree of realism is nearly unmatched, but could be likened to films including The Florida Project and Moonlight. It's a very tough and touching movie. I saw this by chance in the Madrid Film Festival and feel so lucky! I would not have known! Shim is a wonderful director and I can't recommend this highly enough.

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.