The name of Canadian Anthony Shim is to be added to the permanently increasing list of actors who have crossed over from the other side of the camera to become film directors. As an actor, he has quite an impressive filmography, with over 40 roles in short and feature films, for the big screen and for television. 'Riceboy Sleeps' is his second feature film, an auteur film. Shim is the writer, director and plays one of the important supporting roles. It is also a personal film, inspired by his own life experience and that of his family.
Immigration dramas are a genre that has produced some outstanding North American films in recent years. 'Riceboy Sleeps' brings to the screen the story of So-Young, a single mother who immigrated to Canada in 1990 with her boy, Dong-Hyun, who is in the first grades of elementary school. She had left behind a tragedy in South Korea - her husband, who had returned traumatized from the army, had committed suicide. Ahead of her are hopes for a better life in a country considered quite friendly to immigrants. However, problems are not lacking here either, and in order to reach a stable economic situation and social integration, So-Young has to face the typical problems of immigrants: the language barrier, cultural differences, visible and invisible prejudices, to which is added the vulgar misogyny of some of the men towards a lonely and vulnerable woman. The confrontations are described with sensitivity and realism in the first part of the film, with some moments of beautiful cinematography, without idealizing or dramatizing the situations. The second part takes place nine years later. Dong-Hyun has turned from a timorated child into a seemingly assimilated teenager, with the problems and experiences of his age. He speaks perfect English, a language he prefers to speak at home as well, while his mother answers him in Korean and sometimes needs a dictionary in her daily life. Many of those who have lived the experience of emigrating in families with children will recognize the situations. So-Young has not remarried, and when a man comes into her life, she hesitates whether to expand her family. Dong-Hyun starts asking questions about his father and his family in Korea. The events will lead to a journey of the two to Korea, looking for family and roots, but their experience with meeting the family left behind is not smooth either. A chasm may have narrowed on one side, toward the new world the family now lives in, but another opened toward the world from which they had come.
Anthony Shim captured, I think, very well the psychology of the first generation of emigrants, of those who live between two worlds without fully belonging to either of them. The story is well supported by the performances of the three actors who bring the two characters to the screen: Choi Seung-yoon as So-Young, the amazing Dohyun Noel Hwang as the child Dong-Hyun and Ethan Hwang as the adolescent Dong-Hyun. The director uses different screen formats for the parts shot in Canada and South Korea, respectively. The narration is cursive and efficient, the film is sensitive and genuine, but it lacks an element of drama or surprise to make it memorable. Anthony Shim demonstrated his talent and mastery of the director's tools in this film with an obvious personal involvement. He now needs to confirm these skills in future films.
Immigration dramas are a genre that has produced some outstanding North American films in recent years. 'Riceboy Sleeps' brings to the screen the story of So-Young, a single mother who immigrated to Canada in 1990 with her boy, Dong-Hyun, who is in the first grades of elementary school. She had left behind a tragedy in South Korea - her husband, who had returned traumatized from the army, had committed suicide. Ahead of her are hopes for a better life in a country considered quite friendly to immigrants. However, problems are not lacking here either, and in order to reach a stable economic situation and social integration, So-Young has to face the typical problems of immigrants: the language barrier, cultural differences, visible and invisible prejudices, to which is added the vulgar misogyny of some of the men towards a lonely and vulnerable woman. The confrontations are described with sensitivity and realism in the first part of the film, with some moments of beautiful cinematography, without idealizing or dramatizing the situations. The second part takes place nine years later. Dong-Hyun has turned from a timorated child into a seemingly assimilated teenager, with the problems and experiences of his age. He speaks perfect English, a language he prefers to speak at home as well, while his mother answers him in Korean and sometimes needs a dictionary in her daily life. Many of those who have lived the experience of emigrating in families with children will recognize the situations. So-Young has not remarried, and when a man comes into her life, she hesitates whether to expand her family. Dong-Hyun starts asking questions about his father and his family in Korea. The events will lead to a journey of the two to Korea, looking for family and roots, but their experience with meeting the family left behind is not smooth either. A chasm may have narrowed on one side, toward the new world the family now lives in, but another opened toward the world from which they had come.
Anthony Shim captured, I think, very well the psychology of the first generation of emigrants, of those who live between two worlds without fully belonging to either of them. The story is well supported by the performances of the three actors who bring the two characters to the screen: Choi Seung-yoon as So-Young, the amazing Dohyun Noel Hwang as the child Dong-Hyun and Ethan Hwang as the adolescent Dong-Hyun. The director uses different screen formats for the parts shot in Canada and South Korea, respectively. The narration is cursive and efficient, the film is sensitive and genuine, but it lacks an element of drama or surprise to make it memorable. Anthony Shim demonstrated his talent and mastery of the director's tools in this film with an obvious personal involvement. He now needs to confirm these skills in future films.