Review of Treeless Mountain (2009) by Albert K — 05 Apr 2012

Draws a lotta comparisons with "Where the Wild Things Are" except much more grim and less chaotic. "Treeless Mountain"'s a super slow burn, and I mean, REAL slow. I'm okay with pacing that is patient but when there are very little developments over the course of an hour, it becomes an issue. However, just like "Where the Wild Things Are" its an outstandingly realistic portrayal of children during times of emotional trauma.

The acting's incredibly believable. Half way through, I thought to myself, "Are these kids really acting? Did the filmmakers raise these two kids to undergo the same exact nurture as they are throughout the course of the film and just shoot snippets of their real life?" Hee Yeon Kim, the older sister, does a phenomenal job ...and she's only 6. Take some notes Hayden Christiansen. Because these are very young children, there's hardly any dialogue spoken to express their emotions but yet, we see the utter pain of betrayal and loneliness in Hee Yeon Kim's eyes; your heart'll brighten up when you see her crack a smile from the simplistic joys of life; you'll see her gaze harden up against the world to not get hurt again -- all through her transparent eyes of innocence. So obviously, the film rightfully focuses almost 90% of the camerawork on face-shots of these two children -- this is no exaggeration. The children may be in a setting where there's a lot of movement, people talking about important issues, and people working and fighting that is rightfully a life-changing element for these children, but the camera ceases to ease its focus off of these two children. And during all of this, we see symbolism left and right, neatly tying this in a neat package.

For these reasons, "Treeless Mountain" works wonderfully, but it all comes crashing down due to its extremely poor pacing and the lack of true interest throughout the course of the narrative. Don't get me wrong -- by the end of the movie, the narrative had a strong, rigid grip on me, but between the heartbreaking introduction and the ending, it was a sharp character study with EXTREMELY minimal advances in the storytelling department. There IS substance, but not enough plot elements to keep this movie engaging throughout. It's sort of like "Tree of Life": It captures many of the candid and unexpected moments of everyday childhood and so, handpicking out each individual scene doesn't help explain the narrative at ALL. But how the movie works is when the viewer looks at a single scene through the collection of knowledge accumulated by the viewer's observation of previous scenes which showcased these children's everyday behavior. It's clever and helps the viewers dig into the emotional turmoil of these hearts, but it results in an uninteresting, almost repetitive narrative. I'm not saying I want an explosion every two seconds -- I'm saying that some of these scenes involve these kids, at one moment, drawing something in their notebook, and the other moment, them hand-washing their clothing; it makes it a rather, somewhat, repetitive film. Also, there seems to be a lacking quality in this film that's apparently found in many other movies, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. What do I mean? It's a good movie, but with such a premise like this with such raw emotions spewing from its excellent cast, it could've been a masterpiece but there's a lacking in its execution -- I'm just not sure how to pinpoint it.

"Treeless Mountain" does a lot of things right, but it's perhaps too quiet, too simplistic, and too linear. With such an avid execution of children and their approaches to their struggles, there is surprisingly much more to be desired for. Maybe this film wasn't for me. Even as I type out this review, I see there are many more things to appreciate about "Treeless Mountain", but there needs to be a little more "oomph" in the package -- and I'm not just talking about the pacing; I'm talking about the entire film itself. "Treeless Mountain" is one of those movies where watching the movie is an okay experience, but afterwards, you're able to talk about it and remember it for days. Hey, 3 stars is good in my book and is still recommended a viewing, yet it's definitely an acquired taste.