Riceboy Sleeps

Not for the faint of heart, Riceboy Sleeps is one of the finest films of the last few years. The coming-of-age story takes on many themes involving race, identity, and family while remaining an incredibly personal and original testament to the experience of an immigrant mother and son. It provides an insight into a world otherwise impossible to fathom. Excellent camera perspectives throughout and beautifully shot, following each character almost too long but with a beautiful intent. The aspect ratio changes several times throughout and appears to be on real film stock, giving marvelous saturation to each scene and the degree of realism is nearly unmatched, but could be likened to films including The Florida Project and Moonlight. It's a very tough and touching movie. I saw this by chance in the Madrid Film Festival and feel so lucky! I would not have known! Shim is a wonderful director and I can't recommend this highly enough.

Watch it.... That's all I have to say, just WATCH it. This film connects deeper to immigrants and shows the struggles of an immigrant boy and his mother. The movie shows the boy's childhood struggles and teenage struggles in a subtle/honest yet beautifully shown. This masterpiece also shows the beautiful bond of a mother and son in the most true yet spectacular manner. Not only the story and screenplay's spectacular, but also the artistic side of films. The vivid tones set an intimate and cozy/warm feeling that enhances the relationships and emotions in the movie. In my opinion, this film is perfect in every manner; art of cinema, emotions, dialogue, acting, wonderful cinematography, and much more. MUST WATCH!

A single mother and her young son immigrate from Korea to Canada, and she struggles (and reasonably succeeds) in making a new life and adjusting to their new surroundings. The story is told in 3 acts. First is when the son enters Grade 1, second is when he is a teenager in Canada, and third is when she takes him to Korea to learn about his roots.

The director gives memorable sweeping vistas of Korea, as opposed to the more gritty views of life in Canada. But neither country is fully accepting, and it is interesting to see the hypocrisy of a school that tolerates verbal assaults, but has zero tolerance of physical assault. Things do get easier as more immigrants arrive, and life becomes less lonely.

There are interesting vignettes of Korean culture, but they do not seem to drive the plot forward, and there are major loose ends.

I'm glad it wasn't all about immigration and integration. It captures what is being human when others see you as a mere immigrant. The discrimination and integration scenes might seem cliche but that is exactly what I (immigrant child in the 90's) went through. Changing name, food shame, parents views on violence, discipline etc.

When the boy goes to Korea to meet family he suddenly feels comfortable, that side of him that was only revealed at home with his mother now can come out and it's normal.. not something to give up on in the name of "integration". Now the blond hair that was meant to impress a Canadian audience feels dumb, he reaches more clarity with exposure to his roots.

But the story was always about the mother, not her as an immigrant but as a resilient woman that lived with love, never gave up and lived with love. It seems obvious but in all truth we don't give these kind of women enough credit. A simple story with so much depth that all people that have gone through this will know how accurate it is.

I had to write this review, because I was a bit surprised to read that some reviews said the movie didn't go deep enough? That the movie didn't deliver? This movie was só much better than I expected! I liked the fact that the story was divided in three parts and if you have lived in the nineties, it's nice to recognize the clothes and other small details from that time. The characters were very realistic and very well played! Since I am an andopted Korean living in Europe myself, some of the things the boy did and felt were very recognisable. Although the story contains some really heavy issues, the director succeeds in keeping things 'light' by not overdoing heavy dramatic scenes. Just raw authentic emotions. Some stories inside the story of the movie were pure poetry and full of wisdom. I did cry a couple of times because of the beautiful way the movie shows how we are all connected to our roots.