Return To Seoul is a 2022 film that was directed by Davy Chou has his second film. The film stars a cast of new faces and some older faces known well in Korea. Many reviews have raved about this film. Positive recommendations caused an Academy Award nomination at the 92th ceremony.
A Korean women takes an unplanned trip to South Korea. She is a Korean adoptee who was raised in France who never knew anything about her birth parents. Now she searches out her family for a sense of purpose.
Return to Seoul is a film that deals with a person'd true identity. The main character keeps saying all throughout the film that she is French. However, French isn't a race.... It's a nationality. Her idea was that she was somehow different from the Korean people that she had met during her visit. She wasn't any different from them race wise. France was just the place she was raised in. Many of the scenes had a hint of sadness in them because you're watching a women who is searching for the answers to who she is but, is somewhat in denial or doesn't realize how much pieces of herself is missing. The plot also has an added emotional layer that jumps in time. Emotional character development becomes like a shell for the main character to protect her weak heart. A black coat with slicked back hair, a white boyfriend, her weird relationship with her father, are all things that are used as defense system to protect against the fact that her mother's absence is killing her.
I loved that a big focus point of the filming process was the main actress. She made Korea seem so small since she was the main point in the mist of a bustling country. Especially that scenes when she walks around Seoul with the back leather coat on.
Return to Seoul is an emotional ride that's big on the dramatics. There's a sad feel of closure which seemed like a long time coming. Don't you love films that come across longer than they really are due to the emotional layers?
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