User reviews

I was watching t.v. one afternoon and there was absolutely nothing on worth watching. I have the Sundance channel and I always turn my t.v. to that channel when nothing else is on. Anyway on this particular day this movie just happened to be on. I fell in love with it right from the start!!!! The simple beauty of Korea caught my eye first. Then as I watched the movie a little bit more I became more enthralled with the characters of the movie. The Grandmother who never even talked in the movie reminded me that love can be shown in other ways than just saying it out loud. Her Grandson takes me back to my childhood when visiting relatives was "boring" and not really where I wanted to be for summer vacation. It is a great family movie and I can't wait for my twin sister to watch this with me. This movie is subtitled of course and I know that subtitles are hard for some people to take the effort to watch (like my boyfriend, I think it is just laziness on his part)But this movie is worth every subtitled read, so please don't miss this wonderfully touching movie that the whole family can enjoy!!!

Some of the reviews I read about "The Way Home" were disappointing. The critics dwell on the screenplay appearing too forceful, therefore unconvincing: how can the grandmother stand this obnoxiously rude kid? How can it be possible a kid is this obnoxious? Why would she keeps on taking care of him and loving him?

I think we've all judged Grandma by our own standards, but didn't try to stop and think that perhaps this is how she is. She lives a simple life, never complaint, never thought of change, never thought of improving her life style. She just simply accepts everything that's given and deal with it the way she knows how. Ask any one of us. Would we want to walk miles to retrieve buckets of water everyday up in the mountains? Would we want to have a hole to use as our bathrooms? We would stop and complain, become angry at whatever is doing this unfairness to us. To Grandma, this is her life and is all she knows. She accepts whatever life has given her and goes on day by day.

The film has shown her inability of complex thoughts. She attempts to play with the wood blocks, but unable to put the different shapes through the matching shaped holes. She has no concept of shapes, but that doesn't describe her as unintelligent, it rather suggests a untrained/simple mind. Unable to work the blocks, she simply tilts her head and walks away with no complaint or anger, which I don't think I can take the defeat so well. Whatever happens, good or bad, but life goes on. Grandson knocks over the rice bowl in anger, but Grandma immediately bends over and scooped the rice back in the bowl. Rice falls, needs to pick it up and eat it. Grandson rollerbladed around the room, dirties the floor. There is dirt, needs to wipe it off. As simple as that.

I deeply admire the grandmother character. I know I can never be like her. I am a selfish and demanding person that easily complain about a lot of little things, just like the grandson though not as annoying (I hope). It is HER alone that made this movie incredibly and realistically moving.

The key to this movie is the contrast between the traditional "Eastern" values of Harmony and Inner Focus, and the intruding "Western" ones of Mastery and Acquisition. The seven-year-old protagonist brings with him the culture of the big city, Seoul in this case, but it could be anywhere, represented by his battery-operated game and the fact of his mother dumping him in the first place. He is confronted with his elderly grandmother, who simply refuses to engage him in the kind of outer battle he expects, neither to win it nor to lose it. We as audience continually visualize a "modern" parent either bullying this child into submission, or alternatively pandering to his oblivious self-centeredness. Instead, this caretaker evinces UNRELENTING respect for him as a human being: she never once blames, insults, or degrades him. Thus she sets him on the path of an inner journey which are left hoping will last a lifetime.

i am not an easy sell on movies. many things can strike a sour note and put me off a little bit. but i rate this movie 10 on every count. it is excellent in story, characterization, cinematography--but all of those words pull me away from what i truly want to say about The Way Home. it is beautiful on a level that few movies are. most movies that attempt the type of emotional beauty that this one does end up a bit cheesy, a bit cliché, and i am not able to take them seriously.

The Way Home simply lays out the struggle of a young boy and the quiet resilience of his grandmother, and here weeks later when i think of it i feel joy.

You should not always judge a movie by its covers! "Jibeuro" or "The Way Home" is an amazingly beautiful movie. The story is heartfelt and warm, touching and to the point.

The characters in the movie, despite being limited to a few central characters, are very well portrayed and the actors/actresses really bring their roles to life on the screen.

If the story of this movie does not move you or touches you, then you are without a heart. It is one of the more beautiful movies that I have watched. "The Way Home" tells a touching story of differences between youth and elderly, the importance of values in life, and it does so with compelling sincerity that will leave you in tears. Throughout the movie I grew angry at the child, at how he could treat his loving grandmother that way, and my heart went out for the grandmother and her endless love and acceptance. This movie is one of a kind!

I was told to watch this movie, and were somewhat reluctant, given the cover of the movie and what it read on the back cover. But I sat down and saw it, and I was moved. This is definitely a heartfelt movie that will stay with you for a long, long time.

This is a most touching and honest love story. 'Love story', you may wonder?? Are we talking about the same movie? Indeed, the Way Home is a story about a grandson and grandmother with love in the agape tone as it's central theme. Perhaps it's because of the distance between the two: the urban vs the rural; the materialism versus the simple living; or the selfish versus the selfless -- the contrasting styles really make for an interesting comparison in views of the world.

There really was a huge chasm that had to be overcome at the start of this movie, and the action moved superbly in filling out the moments and telling a very visual story of crossing the chasm.

When I read that the director could have spent 2 months filming this movie by shooting in the most efficient manner possible (i.e. common location scenes shot all at once), but chose not to, I was floored. The director *chose* to shoot this movie in chronological sequence spending 6 months on it in order to ensure the emotional sequence would be intact and exact. What a *great* choice -- and it really showed through the movie making it absolutely AMAZING.

This is a very moving movie. I recommend it without reservation.

While there was much I enjoyed in this movie, the main character development did not seem believable to me. I liked seeing the rural lifestyle, the local people, and other parts of the Korean cultural environment. The grandmother was a touching character, though a little bit too one-note. But the boy was such a brat I lost patience with watching him. I did not think his character changed and developed enough to warrant the movie even being called a melodrama. Unlike other reviewers here, my emotions were not much engaged by the characters. The friend I saw it with agreed.

From my personal perspective, this movie is such a hidden beauty inside the simplicity it has. It reminds me of my beloved grandmother who passed away some years ago and I somehow find myself in the character of the young boy. It does not need to be dramatic or wordy to touch your feelings, just the appearance of the grandmother can make you teared up. Her slow gesture, her toothless mouth or her calm face totally created a feeling of The way home for me. In addition, cinematography was on point with many beautiful scenes of the countryside and the acting was natural. I rated this movie 10 for the emotions and reminiscence it brings.

"The Way Home" is a simple Korean fable with a simple moral which is so well intentioned that to criticize it would seem irreverent. Nonetheless, the film is too simple for a 90 minute run unless you have time for the modicum of entertainment it provides and a moral which trite at best. A pleasing watch for those peaceful souls who have the patience and time for a simple story about the conversion of a very annoying selfish kid to a loving and caring child by a grotesquely aged granny who shows him the kind of patience required to watch a movie about the conversion of a very annoying selfish kid to a loving and caring child...etc. (C+)

Maybe it was my mood, but this film fell far short as an experience. It was interesting to see the S. Korean countryside and to get an unvarnished look at the folk there, but 30 minutes of silent cinematography could have done that as well or better. If we're bothering to have a script and actors, let's have a little depth and progression.

Although I'm an American male I'm not immune to quiet, honest and powerful portrayals of life in far different cultures. This film is quiet, it's honest, but it's weak. Above all, the boy is too far off the brat-o-meter. When he urinates into his grandma's shoes, that's it for me. I mean I, my siblings and cousins certainly had our bratty phases and periods in which we didn't show adequate respect for our grandparents, but never, never would we have done something like that. It's too way out and the kid needs to do about a hundred times more than he does later to redeem himself.

Secondly, many here have admired the grandmother's "unconditional love". I'm sorry, but this kid desperately needed some opposition. I don't mean she should have taken him to the woodshed. Just a stern glance and a small shake of the head would at least have told the little creep that he would do well to reflect upon himself.

And what was meant in the scene where granny fails to match the block shapes with the corresponding holes? I'm sorry but this seems to mean that her apparent feeble-mindedness is not simply age-related. Nothing against dim people, you know, but it just serves to make her tolerance of the brat look like blindness, not wisdom. It's as if she can't even work it out in her mind that his behavior doesn't fit any definition of half-acceptable, and so the whole thing becomes exasperating rather than compelling.

Scene after scene is single-note. The ever-suffering (or perhaps too dim to really suffer much) granny shuffling along, bent more to the horizontal than any hunchback. The city kid oblivious to everything but his own desires except for about 12 seconds of screen time in which some care for granny slips through. 12 seconds is not enough.

I got the distinct feeling the writer and/or the director (or the writer/director) was trying to expiate some atrocious behavior of his/her own as a child. I hope this person's real grandmother lived long enough to get some justice. Otherwise, the long lingering shots of the shuffler and the snot-nose just aren't balanced by enough layered meaning in the rest of the film. If the director develops his/her sense of contrast and drama in the future he/she may turn out something worthwhile.

"Love makes us lessen our selfish and self-centered view of the world. Even the smallest kind word, or gentle loving gesture, has repercussions in the infinite…"- Lama Surya Das

Unconditional love is the ability to love someone exactly the way they are and the way they are not, without judgment or evaluation. With this kind of unconditional love, the well being of others becomes more important to us than our own. Spiritual teachers tell us that if we can silence the constant chattering of the mind, we can get in touch with this capacity. I know it is a big stretch for me, but for the wise old grandmother in the South Korean film, The Way Home, it is second nature. This film by Lee Jeong-hyang, one of Korea's few female directors, is this year's biggest box-office hit in South Korea and the first Korean film to receive major studio distribution in the United States. The grandmother, played with startling authenticity by first-time actress, 78 year-old Kim Eul-boon, conveys without speaking the redeeming power of love. Like the young Aboriginal girls in the Australian film Rabbit-Proof Fence, Kim had never even seen a movie before she was discovered in a talent search among rural villagers.

In The Way Home, Sang-woo (Yoo Seung-ho), an insufferable seven-year old boy from Seoul, is deposited at his grandmother's house in the remote village of Youngdong in Korea's Choongbuk province so the mother can have time to look for work. The grandmother's posture is stooped and her face is withered from years of hard work and she suffers from a chronic disability and cannot speak. She lives in a wooden hut carved into the hillside and the stunning cinematography magnificently captures the beauty and remoteness of this mountain retreat. Sang-woo is about the most spoiled and irritating boy that I have ever seen in films and one that would try the patience of St. Francis of Assisi. Full of street-smart know-it-all, he marches into grandma's home with his electronic toys, cans of Coca-Cola and Spam, and starts calling her dummy and byungshin (retard). When she asks what he wants to eat, he tells her "pizza, hamburger, and Kentucky Fried Chicken". She walks all the way to town to buy him a chicken but he won't eat it (until he is too hungry to resist) because it is boiled in a pot and not fried, Colonel-style.

Despite everything the boy does to her including stealing her shoes so she has to walk barefoot and removing a clasp for her hair so he can sell it to buy batteries for his Game Boy, she remains centered and loving. Rather than refusing to cater to his every whim, she becomes increasingly generous, cleaning and cooking for him and overlooking his stealing. He begins to accept the new lifestyle, helping his grandmother to thread a needle, hang up clothes on the clothesline, and shop with her at the market. Gradually he also learns about the meaning of kindness when he sees his grandmother give a package of vitamins to a dying man, and when a neighborhood boy, Hae-yeon (Yim Eun-kyung) forgives him for teasing him about a "crazy" runaway cow.

When Sang-woo's mother comes back to retrieve him, though undemonstrative, he has clearly changed. I was expecting a saccharine payoff, but Ms. Jeong-hyang wisely stays away from a melodramatic farewell that would be out of sync with the rest of the film. Besides, it isn't about the destination but the journey, and Sang-woo in his sojourn with grandma has learned some valuable lessons that become apparent by the end of the film. The Way Home is dedicated to all grandmothers around the world and speaks volumes about the power of loving-kindness to heal the hardest heart. Reminiscent of the Iranian film, The Wind Will Carry Us by Abbas Kiarostami, this is not just the umpteenth variation on the city slicker versus country bumpkin theme but a refreshing look at what truly makes a difference in life. With a lovely score by Kim Dae-hong and Kim Yang-hee, it is yet another example of the emotional power of films that do not require a huge budget, mind-boggling complexity, special effects, or even dialogue to work their magic. And magic it is indeed…Have you hugged your grandmother lately?

"The Way Home" ("Jibeuro") is an absolutely wonderful neorealistic fable about a spoiled city boy sent to live with his "old world" grandmother in her rustic mountain home. That's it. The premise couldn't be more simple, and the results couldn't be more charming, human and moving. Congratulations to writer/director Jeong-hyang Lee for a remarkable film that stands equal to such other classics of this type as "The Bicycle Thief", "Panther Panchali" and "The Color of Paradise". Bring kleenex.

A wonderful and heartwarming tale about the relationship between a small boy and his mute grandmother. The boy is a product of modern consumer culture: He knows only what's on TV, values only what he can possess, and wants only what you can buy at the store. When he is sent to stay with his grandmother in a rural, impoverished part of Korea, he is faced with one of two options: Grow up and get used to it, or throw as many tantrums as you can to try and get your way. He's just a boy, so of course he chooses the latter, even though you as the viewer are hoping at every turn that he will somehow be able to see his situation through the eyes of a mature adult.

The performances in this film are amazing. The grandmother says nothing, yet she is easily one of the most endearing characters to have ever graced the motion picture screen. And even though the boy is a little brat, there's something in his eyes and something of him in all of us that makes us want to see him become a better person through it all. Easily one of the best films I've seen in a long time, and I'm not even Korean! Enjoyable for all audiences. This is one you can take your whole family to, or at least your girlfriend, so that she can cry on your shoulder and think that you're a sensitive guy.

The Way Home is a heartwarming drama, right? But there are some plot holes in this movie that are bigger than the ones in Swiss cheese. For example, we've got this young kid, Sang-woo, and his mom sends him to live with his grandma in the countryside. You know, like a "quality bonding time" kind of deal. But how is it that Sang-woo doesn't know a thing about his grandma or that she's even alive? Didn't they ever talk about family? And the Grandma is apparently more than old enough to have a daughter and a grandson who look like they just stepped out of a Gap commercial. It's like a math problem gone horribly wrong.

Anyway, we're then treated to Sang-woo's bad attitude and his struggles adjusting to rural life. The kid's basically a jerk, and you can't help but wonder why he's such a little punk. It's not like he had a rough life in the city; he's just obnoxious for no apparent reason.

Then there's the whole thing with Grandma. She's this sweet, kind woman who doesn't say a word but is full of love and care. It's touching, for sure, but also wildly unrealistic. She just goes along with all of Sang-woo's antics, never getting frustrated or angry. There's no way any person, no matter how patient, would put up with that nonsense without saying something.

And let's not even get started on that broken TV. It's just sitting there in her house, gathering dust like a relic from the stone age. And surprise, surprise, there's no electricity or satellite in sight. So, why's it there? Are we supposed to believe she's running a TV museum or something?

Now, I'm all for suspending disbelief in a movie, but this was just pushing it. We're talking giant plot holes here! It's like they were trying to see how many inconsistencies they could cram into one film. It's a whole new level of absurd.

Don't get me wrong, the acting is decent, and there are some touching moments in the film. And I know that The Way Home is a heartwarming tale about the transformative power of love and the bonds that form between generations. But it's also chock-full of plot holes that you just can't help but notice. So, if you can overlook the inconsistencies, it's a touching story, but if you're like me, you might find it not your cup of tea.

The Way Home (Jibero) is a (deceptively) simple story of the values of the 'two Koreas' (the traditional, and the contemporary, consumerist), and unconditional love that is at the heart of any family. It can properly be called a Korean 'neorealist' film, in the tradition of similar great films from De Sica and Ray--not to mention two Japanese masters, Ozu and Kurosawa. The principal actors in this film (the grandmother and the spoiled boy) have never acted before, but deliver surprisingly effective performances. The viewer will soon forget, as I did, that one is watching a 'foreign' film, for The Way Home is truly universal, as all great films are. It is sad that this small gem will not be opening in 2000+ theatres around the country, but it is far better and more beautiful than any 'blockbuster' which will grace the megaplexes this year. Try to catch it, if at all possible!

This film got a split critical reception when recently shown in Boston this past week. The Phoenix reviewer (unfortunately this assignment was not given to either Chris Fujiwara or Gerald Peary, the cream of the paper's critical crop) trashed it as sentimental bunkum -- suggesting that viewers wanting to see a worthwhile film about children visiting country relatives for the summer watch HHH's "Summer at Grandpa's" instead. The Globe reviewer, on the other hand, liked it -- a lot. I would have to agree with the Globe here (a rare occurrence).

The set-up here would not seem to be that unusual: a somewhat bratty city kid (around 7 or 8 years old here) gets left with rural relatives, and (after considerable resistance) learns (from some kind old person) that there is more to life than brand-name products, video games and unbridled egotism. Curiously, though, I can't think of any major Western movies that use this premise -- and only one Asian one (John William' wonderful "Firefly Dreams" -- which centers on a teen-age girl).

The acting here by the two protagonists, Sang-woo (the child, played by YU Seung-ho) and his Grandmother (played by KIM Eul-Bun) is superb -- as is that of the supporting cast. (Apparently neither star was a "professional" actor). The script is funny and sweet (but not cloying). The cinematography of rural Korea is gorgeous. The direction (by one of Korea's few woman directors) is sure-handed. The score (sort of French neo-classical, for the most part) is lovely. Plot-wise the grandmother here would make more sense as a great-grandmother (the age disparity between the boy, his mother and the "grandmother is about 20 years too great). One thing that makes the Korean films I've seen so far so attractive to me (but obviously resistible to some critics) is the whole-hearted, warm-blooded lack of cynicism, Some Korean directors must not have learned yet that when touching sentimental or romantic topics, one is required to display a certain degree of snide superiority. I hope they never do learn.

And about how kids are raised far from their roots and only to become self-centered consumerists. But too bad there's no redeeming quality about that kid, even at the end of the film, he's still a brat. The whole situation is sad and awkward. It's like that scene in Babe (1995) when the farmer gifts his spoiled granddaughter a dollhouse he made himself and she hates it; it's that scene extended to a whole movie.

Don't mean to be bucking the trend here, but my goodness what movie did all YOU people see? I was alternatively bored and horrified. We are shown a very spoiled and selfish child (who admittedly seems to have been the victim of some really poor parenting) who is dumped on his grandmother. He then proceeds to spend seven-eights of the film being devastatingly rude to and tormenting this elderly, stooped, mute woman. Worse, the grandmother just seems to accept this behavior, never takes him to task and continues throughout to bear the child's taunts just as she bears the kind of heavy physical labor that would fell a camel, all while the kid lies around whinging.

We are, it seems, supposed to be charmed by the "unconditional love" shown by the grandmother. I felt more that what we were seeing was her sad and mute resignation to the child's abuse and that his presence in her life was just another aching burden she was given to bear at a point in her life when perhaps she has suffered enough. With no ability to speak out or to take any physical control over this demon boy, the only way she effects any change is through bribery or giving in to the child's whims.

Ultimately I found the story to be a depressing commentary on the lives of the elderly. I fear that the writer/director spent a similar time with a grandparent as a child and is using this movie to show us how well she thinks she resolved it.

Even at 85 minutes, the film is too long for what it is. Much of the middle section is repetitive; maybe the filmmaker did not realize how clear it is in the first 20 minutes that the kid should be tied to a tree and strapped until he learns how to behave. The denouement comes too quickly to be believable and has little basis in the story that proceeds it. To the extent that we are supposed to come away thinking that there has been any growth in the film, I find it hard to believe that the characters have learned anything that will stay with them for more than a day or two. All the audience seems to be instructed to take away is a warm and fuzzy feeling that "grandmothers are just great, aren't they." To my mind, however, the real message delivered seems to be "oh my god, NEVER have children. One of them might end up like this."

These criticisms aside, the film is not unbearable or unwatchable. It is a beautiful movie and left me feeling some better sense of what the lives of the rural poor (in Korea and elsewhere) are really like. The acting is also very fine, especially considering it is a child actor and a woman who (as you may have read elsewhere) allegedly had never even SEEN a movie before making this one.

But don't rush to spend full fare on this one. Save it for 2d or 3d run. Or maybe a home video rental.