In South Korea, So-Yung (Choi Seung-yoon) makes the hard choice to immigrate to Canada to give her young son Dong-Hyun (Dohyun Noel Hwang) a better life. Over a decade, the duo faces a myriad of challenges in trying to fit in, culminating in Dong-Hyun (now played by Ethan Hwang) being involved in a fight after learning of his mother’s illness.

So-Yung is a determined and resilient woman. Being left widowed, So-Yung leaves her home country and family so that her son may benefit from being a citizen. So-Yung goes through the humiliation of workplace harassment in her male-dominated factory job during the ‘90s, and her young son is ridiculed due to his Korean heritage. So-Yung projects onto her son the need for physical self-defence, leading to further difficulties integrating with his peers. It is when So-Yung realises that she will not always be there for her son that she makes the brave decision to face the family and land that she had left behind so long ago.

Based on the writer-director’s own childhood, the movie shows the dichotomy of self, time, and place. Lingering scenes shot in Canada are in a restricted ratio, where mother and son are seen as barely full people, having to forgo one’s heritage and even names in the effort to integrate. In Korea, the ratio is expansive, displaying solid links to the past and a potential path forward to a better future.

Verdict: A gentle, thoughtful, and simple movie, dealing with complex emotions in finding one’s place.

4 stars.

Luke McWilliams, themovieclub.net.