Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild

Leafie lives in a cage on an egg farm. She is expected to lay and her eggs are taken; she has never seen a chick of her own. One day she stops laying, is counted as sick and thrown out. She does not die. She escapes to the marsh. There she finds a nest; there is an egg in it and its mother is dead. Leafie sits on the egg. What hatches is a duckling. She raises him as his mother and nobody in the marsh accepts it. There is also a weasel, circling every night. Oh Sung-yoon directs. Moon So-ri and Choi Min-sik are among the voices. It is a Korean production. The source is Hwang Sun-mi's novel. The book sold more than a million copies in Korea and is taught in schools. The film reached the highest box office figure to that date in Korean animation. The matter it treats is motherhood and belonging; the narrative builds it across a difference of species and offers no easy resolution. Its ending is extremely hard for a children's animation and is shown directly. The weasel is not a one dimensional villain; the narrative shows that she too is feeding her young. The animation is hand drawn and the backgrounds of the marsh detailed. Who it is for: anyone curious about animation grounded in nature and Korean cinema. Who it is not for: the ending is very sad, the subject heavy, and it is hard for small children.