Celine Song was born in South Korea. Her parents were both artists who moved the family to Canada when she was 12. Her father was a filmmaker. Song got her degree in play writing in New York City. This film is based on Song's life or was inspired by her personal experience. Song wrote and directed this film, so it's arguably quite autobiographical. At the heart of it, it's an immigration story. There have been tons of immigration stories over the past 20 years or so. A lot of them have been about the difficulties that immigrants face in terms of the journey to leave or escape their native countries or the difficulties they face in terms of assimilation, due to xenophobia, discrimination or poverty.
A few of those films have focused on children who immigrate to some new country and those titles too are about the problems with the journey or assimilation. Often, they're about identity and the dual nature many child immigrants feel as they grow up. Song is from Korea but she grew up in America, so is she more Korean or is she more American? Kids in that predicament can struggle, often not feeling as if they fit in with either country or culture. They can reject one culture over the other, which can cause social tensions with people in their lives who come from the side of themselves. Most of those films become about the child immigrant finding a way to balance both or embrace the culture and country they're now in.
Some films though are about a child immigrant growing up and feeling disconnected from their native country for one reason or another. The film becomes about that person trying to reestablish that connection or build a new one. A film that opened my eyes to that is The Namesake (2007). It's probably my favorite in that regard. Lion (2016) is another favorite. A more recent title in that regard is Monsoon (2020). These films though are about child immigrants or the children of such who grow up and literally attempt or in some cases do return to their native lands. Those lands happen to be all Southeast Asian countries. Here, Celine Song is doing something a bit different. First off, the country in question is East Asian and it's not about the protagonist trying to return to their nation of origin. Yet, it's still about what was left behind.
Greta Lee (The Morning Show and Russian Doll) stars as Nora Moon, a Korean-American living in New York City with her Jewish-American husband. The film starts with her and her husband getting a visit from Nora's childhood friend from Korea. She left her friend at the age 12 when her family immigrated from South Korea to North America. She lost track of her friend for 12 years. They reconnected when the two were in college but only via the Internet. She lives in New York. He still lives in Seoul. They never interacted in person, only through video chats. They lost track again for about another decade or so until her friend finally decides to visit her in the U.S.
Teo Yoo co-stars as Hae Sung Jung, the aforementioned childhood friend. After Nora left, he spent the whole time missing her. We don't get much of what their childhood relationship was like. They go on one date right before she leaves, so it seems as if there was a burgeoning romance there, even though they were only 12. Unfortunately, that date is told mainly through the perspective of their mothers and we don't get much of the children's perspective. When they're eventually in college, Hae Sung reaches out via Facebook, which sparks up a long-distance relationship where they're communicating via Skype or some equivalent video chat.
We don't get much of their conversations that go beyond the trivial or superficial, but, as time progresses, it becomes obvious that both want a physical connection. Each asks the other for a physical visit. Nora asks Hae Sung to come to New York. He basically says no. Hae Sung asks Nora to come to Seoul. She basically says no as well. We get somewhat of an explanation as to why Nora doesn't want to go back to Seoul, but her refusal to visit him for a weekend or a few days feels extreme. Yet, his refusal to visit her in New York feels contrived, if only because his reason for refusing is never given or even explored.
John Magaro (First Cow and The Big Short) also co-stars as Arthur, a novelist who meets Nora during an artist's residency. They fall in love and by all accounts have a great relationship. Yes, they argue and fight, but it's likely endemic of the passion they feel for each other. Arthur is Jewish, but he loves specific Korean food. He even speaks Korean, not fluently, but his use of it is very impressive. He's sensitive and even understanding of Nora's feelings and relationship to Hae Sung. He's by all accounts a great guy.
When Hae Sung visits Nora, she's already been married to Arthur for seven years. Hae Sung knows this, so it's a wonder what he thought might happen or even what he wanted to get out of this visit. When he does so, he himself has recently broken up with his girlfriend, so he's perhaps on the rebound and goes to this extreme because he felt like he did have this connection with Nora that was never resolved in a concrete way.
However, what's never resolved that should have been is why Hae Sung never made moves to pursue Nora beyond reaching out over the Internet. If we are to assume that he was in love with her, he would've at least considered moving to New York sooner like during the numerous times she asked him during their Skype relationship. There's a throwaway line that he felt too ordinary and there is perhaps some sexist or male-centered cultural ideas that prevented him from doing so, but the film doesn't delve into it.
If anything, I was reminded of Goran Stolevski's Of An Age (2023), which is a film about an immigrant dealing with a relationship that he had with someone in his youth. One of them moves away before the romance could blossom. It then follows them later as adults during a visit where they have an opportunity to explore their romance again but it's too late because one of them is now married. Stolevski's story or his film's dilemma is the same as Celine Song's. The only difference is that Stolevski's film makes you feel the bond between his star-crossed lovers more than Song does.
This film features what is an incredibly written scene between Nora and Arthur. The two of them have a frank and honest conversation about the presumed love triangle between Nora, Arthur and Hae Sung. It's brilliant in how it touches upon all the inherent issues, such as race, attraction, happenstance, cultural expectations and dreams, and it does so in a beautifully muted way, no histrionics. It proves Celine Song is a really good writer.
Rated PG-13 for some strong language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 45 mins.
In theaters.
