Release Date: April 22 (limited)
Director/Writer: So Yong Kim
Cinematographer: Anne Misawa
Starring: Hee-yeon Kim, Mi-hyang Kim, Song-hee Kim, Soo-ah Lee
Studio/Run Time: Oscilloscope Pictures, 89 mins.
Two children alone in South Korea
The heart of cinema is montage. A film shows us one thing, then another, and our brains take over from there. Talking with Francois Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock described one of his films like this: “You have an immobilized man looking out. That’s one part of the film. The second part shows what he sees and the third part shows how he reacts. This is actually the purest expression of a cinematic idea.” From these basic building blocks a filmmaker can take an otherwise neutral facial expression and imbue it with meaning by adding a little context, producing an effect for the audience that feels curiously like mind reading.
Director/Writer: So Yong Kim
Cinematographer: Anne Misawa
Starring: Hee-yeon Kim, Mi-hyang Kim, Song-hee Kim, Soo-ah Lee
Studio/Run Time: Oscilloscope Pictures, 89 mins.
Two children alone in South Korea
The heart of cinema is montage. A film shows us one thing, then another, and our brains take over from there. Talking with Francois Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock described one of his films like this: “You have an immobilized man looking out. That’s one part of the film. The second part shows what he sees and the third part shows how he reacts. This is actually the purest expression of a cinematic idea.” From these basic building blocks a filmmaker can take an otherwise neutral facial expression and imbue it with meaning by adding a little context, producing an effect for the audience that feels curiously like mind reading.
- 6/12/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
Children rule the day in this semi-autobiographical film by new film maker So Yong Kim but it comes off more as an exercise in filmmaking than entertainment Following up her Sundance and Berlin Ff winner .In Between Days. writer/director So Yong Kim.s latest work .Treeless Mountain. has big shoes to fill. It has already grabbed the Berlin Prize of the Ecumenical Jury as well as several other international awards. The old movie-making adage tells us to never work with dogs or children. Director Kim throws that advice aside from the first scene in this film centered on six year old Jin (Hee Yeon Kim) and her younger sister Bin (Song-hee Kim). In her use of inexperienced child actors Kim...
- 5/4/2009
- by Ron Wilkinson
- Monsters and Critics
Screen Gems thriller “Obsessed” looks to be the top contender for the number one spot this weekend. The film unspools into 2,514 venues and stars Idris Elba, Beyonce Knowles, Ali Larter, Bruce McGill, Jerry O'Connell and Christine Lahti. Disneynature released their “Earth” on Wednesday, pulling in the best opening day ever for a documentary release (except for concert films) with a big $4 million from 1,804 venues. Film should continue to do well this weekend. The keenly followed Channing Tatum stars in “Fighting” with Terrence Howard, reteaming with his “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” helmer Dito Montiel. Action drama opens into 2,310 locations. The biggest film may however come in the form of Paramount/DreamWorks’ sought after “The Soloist” starring Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx and Catherine Keener. Film opens into 2,024 theatres and is helmed by “Atonement” and “Pride & Prejudice” director Joe Wright. One could expect a strong per-theatre average from Senator Entertainment’s “The Informers” in 482 venues.
- 4/24/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
The best films about childhood rely heavily on an alchemic bond between filmmaker and actor, and the connection between director So Yong Kim and the two very young leads of her new film "Treeless Mountain" must have been nothing short of miraculous. The story of Jin (Hee-Yeon Kim) and Bin (Song-Hee Kim), sisters left in the care of an indifferent, hard-drinking aunt while their mother goes in search of their absentee father, is a marvel of naturalism. Taken out of school and abandoned to wander the village all day, six-year-old Jin and four-year-old Bin learn to be resourceful, catching grasshoppers to grill and sell, saving up coins in a piggy bank in hopes that it'll make their mother come back for them as she promised. I spoke to the Korean-born Kim about returning to her own childhood home to shoot the film, avoiding sentimentality and that whole pesky "neo-neo realism" thing.
- 4/21/2009
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
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