Riceboy Sleeps

So-young came to Canada from Korea. Her husband died and she was left with her son Dong-hyun. She works at a factory. She enrols her son at a suburban school. The boy is shut out there; his name cannot be said, he is mocked for the food he brings, and the teacher does not see it. So-young goes to the school and argues. Years pass. Dong-hyun becomes a teenager; he dyes his hair blond, uses an English name and does not speak to his mother. Then news arrives and the two have to go to Korea. Anthony Shim wrote, directed and appears in the film. Choi Seung-yoon plays So-young and Ethan Hwang plays Dong-hyun. It is a Canadian production. The film won the Platform prize at the Toronto Film Festival. The narrative leans on the director's own experience; Shim emigrated to Canada with his family as a child. It was shot on 16 mm and the period atmosphere is built through that choice. The narrative uses long takes; the camera stands inside the scene and there is little cutting. The matter it treats is a name; whether the son's name is said or not is the whole axis. The final section in Korea changes the register and the film explains nothing there. Its limit is pace; the narrative is slow, the events few and the ending left open. Who it is for: viewers who like immigrant family narratives and quiet independent cinema. Who it is not for: it is slow, emotionally heavy, and the ending uncertain.