Return to Seoul

AroView: “Return to Seoul” connects so strongly with its theme of identity crisis for trans-national adoptees that it might stay with you for days.

Park Ji-Min plays a troubled young woman who visits her birthland of South Korea for the first time after being raised in middle-class France, and she can’t speak a word of Korean. She’s a tough customer – a wild child who behaves unpredictably and often badly, for reasons that become clear if never fully understood. This will rewards concentration and patience with emotional catharsis, with the added bonus of giving us a richly authentic taste of Seoul.

“An engrossing cinematic experience, an inextricable character portrait both intimate and fathomless.” ~Paste Magazine

“A startling and uneasy wonder, a film that feels like a beautiful sketch of a tornado headed directly toward your house.” ~Amy Nicholson, New York Times

“A powerful and quietly staggering work, and one of the most engrossing films of the year.” ~Ross Bonaime, Collider