Review of Seoul Searching (2015) by Tanjima Z — 27 Apr 2018

As much as I want to go on a semi-lengthy monologue about the moral dilemmas concerning bias in different areas of film-making in the year 2018, I will be content with this opening statement - I have logged back into the site after nearly two.

(may be more?) calendar years, and my sole (get it???) purpose is to provide my feelings as an audience - without taking it too personally!

Technical things first - the central characters acted with considerable prowess. I have only seen works of Justin Chon before and I think he is great. What has amazed me is the levels at which the other actors performed. That brings us to Benson Lee, the filmmaker whose real life, if I understood right, inspired this film. It is reminiscent of the 80's era John Hughes movies but like in Korea! If I try to judge the film based on the tid-bits of my knowledge garnered from being a movie-watcher, I would put this as a mediocre albeit quite enjoyable project. The story-line isn't strong andt it didn't have to be as the focus was on a unique subset of first generation. The idea of the Korean culture or how it is isn't clearly visible and to some extent it portrays native Korean men in a darker light. But, there were hopes of redemption and I will call it amends made. Internally I am a bit crushed to not have watched this movie sooner since I have been saudade-ing the 80's for a few years no. Emotions aside, the feel of the movie appeared to be true to the era as well. Although the male characters didn't have to go through any dramatic changes, except for some oversized outfits. Nearly all the female characters, however, got some retro (can I say that now?) makeover and looked great! So big round of applause from me. What I do take some issue with are the Japanese students. The meticulousness that created the stage for the rest of the play didn't extend to their outfits - and they were wearing uniforms! Sailor uniforms yes but all in all, not quite! Whatever the positives the negatives, the movie was a true hit with me because of representation! It's good to see Asian characters speaking English. I have mainly lived in English speaking countries and it matters to me when I see something focused on a very small group of people whom I have seen around me. The bittersweet reality of Seoul Searching is what truly made me babble on. So I guess in the end it was personal.