Riceboy Sleeps

I was on the verge of tears for most of the film. I'm sure this will win best picture at the Canadian film awards. It's really a gut punch of a film. This is the story of So-Young (Choi Seung-yoon) and her immigration to Canada with her young son,  Dong-Hyun (played by Dohyun Noel Hwang then by Ethan Hwang as a teenager - both are excellent). Set in the 1990s, this story of cultural integration into Canadian white society is deeply affecting. Writer, director, and star, Anthony Shim, has created an immigration story which rings true. I'm not an immigrant but my mother was and from her stories, being an outsider is always tough, especially when we are dealing with children (who often don't know how to behave when confronted with something foreign). Shim captures Dong-Hyun's childhood experience brilliantly. This is also the story of a mother's relentless love for her child and how she would climb a mountain for him; almost literally in this case. When the story takes a dark turn, mother and son travel to Korea to reconnect with Dong-Hyun's father's parents. Again, Shim films beats with honest notes, one after the next, when Dong-Hyun hangs out with his young uncle and his grandparents. This is a special film, so try to catch it at a Canadian rep cinema near you or on streaming services when available.