Barbie

Soon-young and her little sister Soon-ja live with their intellectually disabled father. The one actually holding the family together is the older girl. One day an American man arrives in the village with his daughter Barbie; he wants to adopt one of the children. Mang-taek, the broker handling it, is determined to close the deal. The household has to decide which of the two sisters will go. Soon-ja wants to be the one; Soon-young grows suspicious. Kim Sae-ron and Kim Ah-ron, who play the two sisters, are sisters in real life as well. Lee Sang-woo's film is a hard criticism of material greed in Korean society and of the relationship built with America; adoption here is not a rescue but a transaction. The story makes a hard turn in its final section and leaves nobody any relief. Ninety-seven minutes. The film offers no hope and does that deliberately.