“…one of the more honest portrayals of growing up in less than idyllic circumstances with a less than perfect family…”
The one place where Eun-hee finally gets comfort is with her Chinese cram-school teacher Ms. Yong-Ji. The two form a bond one day when Eun-hee and Jae-Suk, her best friend, are in a fight. From that point on, Eun-hee relies on her for help when things go badly, which unfortunately is quite often. She keeps getting dumped by her boyfriend, she gets made fun of by girls at school, and when she finds a lump on the back of her ear, her parents don’t even accompany her to the doctor. Her mother tells her where a doctor is, and when a subsequent surgery occurs, they don’t stay with her for very long during her recovery.
House of Hummingbird, despite a somewhat joyful sounding title, is anything but. It is quite the depressing film, but it shows us that we as humans are masters of endurance. We can survive just about anything. My one complaint about the film is that it is probably about half an hour too long for my liking (it’s almost 2.5 hours long). Otherwise, I thought it was one of the more honest portrayals of growing up in less than idyllic circumstances with a less than perfect family I’ve seen in quite some time. It also teaches Americans and other Westerners what it might have been like in South Korea in the ’90s which is something I always appreciate when watching foreign films. I can see this film going onto great praise as we approach Oscar season. We’ll see if I’m right soon enough. Even if not, try to check it out before we get that far in the year. It’s a great, honest coming of age story.
House of Hummingbird (2019) Written and Directed by Bora Kim. Starring Ji-hu Park, In-gi Jeong, Say-byeok Kim, Seung-yun Lee. House of Hummingbird screened at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
7.5 out of 10 stars
