Return To Seoul Review: A Young Woman Searches For Her Parents In This Mesmeric, Daring Drama
Go back to your roots, we're always told, and you'll find your heart's true home. But during Davey Chu's brave and embarrassing return to Seoul, his adopted daughter's tearful search for her parents yields neither meaning nor resolution. Freddie (Park Ji-min) is a French woman adopted from South Korea in her mid-twenties. He ended up in Seoul after his trip to Tokyo was cut short by a typhoon. Anyway, that's the apology he apologizes to his adoptive mother for staying behind and leaving her completely in the dark because of this sudden blackout.
Fred says he won't even be here to meet his birth parents. With a charming disdain for bottles of soju and local customs, he enjoys wandering around, drawing strangers into his orbit. He was told it was wrong to pour the glass. He pauses, ponders the question, then happily ignores it. But Fred quickly found his way through the doors of an adoption agency that took him into their system two decades ago. Meeting requests will be sent to parents. His father (Oh Kwang-rok) answers. His mother did not. He's an alcoholic, too desperate in his penance to see Freddie's own comfort. He wants her to live with his family, marry a Korean and learn the language.
In the stunning premiere, Park likens Freddy's creative recklessness like steel; he provides the protection he maintains against the forces of honesty and integrity. His eyes pale uncomfortably with life as he speaks. "He has to understand that I'm French now," she said of her father. "I have my family and friends there. I don't live in Korea. You feel the glass of his soul break when he is silent. She faithfully seduces young men and women. He jumps as electricity burns through his muscles. He wanders the city determined to hurt her.
Inspired by a true friend's reunion with his birth father, Chu resists all temptations to ease Freddie's heartache with simple means. He never defines himself by what he has gained, but by what he has lost. As the film returns to him again and again over the course of eight years, we discover that he is caught in a constant cycle of renewal. She transforms into a femme fatale with blood red lips. He attributes this to removing a sense of authoritarian control in the defense industry. He cuts hair and travels around Europe.
Chow's camera does its best to follow him as he strolls through clubs and streets, his steps quickened by Bauhaus-style post-punk music. Busy nightlife in Seoul can often be cold and unfriendly. But it is clear where Fred's idea is going. At one point he confesses to his friend. "Has mother thought about me?" Where?" For Freddie and many people with an unstable sense of self, living beyond these unanswered questions is difficult.
Directed by Dave Chu. Starring: Jimin Park, Oh Kwang-rok, Gooka Han, Kim Soon-young. 15119 minutes.
Returning to theaters in Seoul on May 5
