TREELESS MOUNTAIN
What can you say about film where the mother abandons two adorable little girls? Do I hear urchin? At the same time if you're anticipating something overly sentimental you won't find it in Treeless Mountain, a rather sober or sobering yet beautiful tale of two little parent-less girls in China.
Jin(Hee Yeon Kim) and Bin(Song Hee Kim) are 7 and 5 years old respectively and live with their mother(Soo Ah Lee), who appears to be exhausted and overwhelmed. Their father is nowhere to be found. Jin is in charge of looking after her sister and is chastized when she picks her up late one day. When Jin wets the bed, however, her mother carefully without harshness or scolding cleans her up, clearly understanding the stress caused by too much responsibility at too young of an age. Shortly thereafter, the mother takes the two girls to "visit" their aunt, an unfortunate alcoholic who tries, sort of, but is no real caretaker. Mother has promised that when the girls fill up their piggy bank with coins, she will return. You have a good sense already of where this is heading.
Perhaps more than anything this is a film about how to film children and their stories in a manner that does not sexualize, sentimentalize, or idolize. The camera does wander slowly over their faces and caress them but it seems almost about capturing the most authentic expressions possible, expressions that are hidden behind the blankness that comes from learning too soon how to hide one's feelings.
So Yong Kim (IN BETWEEN DAYS) fashioned this story from her own experience as a child whose mother left her in Korea with her grandparents on a rice farm as she set off to America to find a better life for herself and her children. The personal nature and the sensitivity to young Jin's story is evidence of this. Yet it is a way of storytelling that invites every one of us in as all of us, have probably experienced moments where we felt abandoned and/or betrayed, be it from immediate family, friends or acquaintances.
Eventually the girls land on their grandparents farm, a very start and rural environment from another time, it seems. The surroundings are harsh, you can feel the wind ripping through the children's insufficient coats, they have no gloves or hats, no boots to trudge through the snow. You know these children have suffered, but you also have a sense that they will be saved, loved even, by this stoic woman and they will learn how to survive.
Treeless Mountain is not a message movie, it's not trying to manipulate us or tell us that the love of family will save us. It's a simple and beautiful story of consequences, as visited upon the innocent, of adult choices and behaviors. And for the director, it is also a letter to her own mother.
Treeless Mountain opens in Los Angeles May 8, 2009.
Written and directed by So Yong Kim; produced by Bradley Rust Gray, Ben Howe, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy, and Song Yong Kim; director by photography, Anne Misawa. Released by Oscilloscope Laboratories. Running time: 89 minutes.
With: Hee Yeon Kim (Jin); Song Hee Kim (Bin); Soo Ah Lee (Mom); Mi Hyang Kim (Big Aunt) and Boon Tak Park (Grandpa).
