House of Hummingbird

The House of Hummingbird (Beolase) was creating unique mood that I couldn't see at other movies. The movie begins with the setting of the main character and explains the relationships between them. The most impressive thing was the events were based on real events and life of director. I believe this is why Beolsae could transfer message to audience and impact audience. I want to point out that Bolase's cinematography is amazing. Every transition, angle, lighting represents the events, emotion, and more. But Beolsae had some of awkwardness in some of shots. Some of shots were dragging a little and I thought some of shots should be edit more shorter. But overall, it was good movie with message.

"Among all the people you know, how many really understand what's going on inside you?"

House of Hummingbird is a bleak but beautifully told story of a girl drowning in childhood neglect who learns how to live by and for herself as she is confronted with the true transience and fragility of the bridges that connect us with others. Set in 1994 Seoul, the film is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age of both the director and her country.

The few melodramatic steps taken by the script are counterbalanced by how it avoids being overly cinematic; you forget you are watching a film. It's this distinction that spares it from a comparison to Eighth Grade. Where Bo Burnham crafted an expressive, modern, and quintessentially teenage coming-of-age, Bora Kim gives us a muted and nuanced story of an ageless soul coming to terms with a lonely existence. The nature of Eunhee's relationships with her Chinese teacher and one of her classmates bears a closer resemblance to Lost in Translation. While the themes of how we define family and fending for ourselves are both reminiscent of the 2018 Cannes darling Shoplifters.

At karaoke, Eunhee sings into the mic:

🎶 "Love is like glass. It shines so beautifully but breaks so easily. And how difficult it is now as I deal with the pieces..." 🎶

The sad notes of the film are hard-hitting, but like her teacher says when Eunhee asks about the residents protesting relocation, "Don't pity them. We don't really know their lives." And so are we reminded as such regarding the central character.

The film is framed from her perspective, letting us into this world only so far as Eunhee understands it. Free of stereotypes and cliches, the film takes us so far into the mental seclusion of adolescence, right to the home of internal angst--to the point where we are offended on behalf of Eunhee when someone says to her, "You only think about yourself..." It's only then we surface from the depths of her perspective.

House of Hummingbird is a true gem of a film. With the exception of an amateurish plot point written into the end, the film is perfect. Biggest surprise of the festival so far. .

House of Hummingbird is a movie I stumbled across one night and I just sat there mesmerized throughout its 2hr 18min run time. It has such a simple plotline (if you can even call it that), yet it engages you with character study, family drama, adolescent insecurities, loneliness and even grief.

It's a coming of age story about a teenage girl named Eunhee who is abused by her brother and shown little affection by her parents. She doesn't seem to have much interest in school as she sleeps in class without care. The closest people in her life are her best friend, a boyfriend and her teacher. The troubles and delights she shares with them are handled with such finesse that no incident ever seems forced or melodramatic.

Her life at home is filled with dysfunction. From her brother beating her for any form of disrespect to her parents fighting loudly right in front of their children. The way she reacts to events like this are not overt cries for attention, but are shown in her general personality or her simple day to day actions towards other people in her life. She deals with romance in the idealistic and sometimes naive views of the 14 year old girl she is. Whether she's getting in fights with her friend or dealing with being left by someone she's come to trust, she always reacts in such a realistic and sympathetic and human way.

A heartfelt drama taking place in the mid 90s, House of Hummingbird intertwines elements from its story to real life events that were big in South Korea like the death of Kim Il Sung and the Seongsu bridge collapse. This makes the characters feel even more real than the phenomenal acting and writing already does. It stands tall against other great coming of age works like Fish Tank, The Way Way Back, and Eight Grade. It's a shame that even though this South Korean movie also came out in 2019, Parasite recieved far more acclaim. I liked Parasite to an extent, but this film is much more worth your time.

Bora Kim's first feature film "House of Hummingbird" is a solid masterpiece. The story might be feel little slow but when you are telling a story from a eighth grade girl point of view about a middle class family what she think a messed up family then you have to be slow and steady.

As a younger member of the family, Eun-Hee feel kinda left out from her family and confused about relationships between her family members. Slowly she started to picking the pieces of life as she sees other people life surround her and find out what's a family mean.

Background score and cinematography were marvelous, help to keep your attention to story.

The society pressures you to stay in the straight line. You need to be a good student. You should listen to your older siblings. Take beating as approved if you are just a daughter in a family. However, Life is not a straight line. This is a story about a teenager girl finding her way out of adventerous and sometimes confusing maze called life.