User Reviews

I'm no fan of ornaments and symbolism yet I hypocritically wanted the 100th Korean movie I watched to be one to remember. My choice of 'House of the Hummingbird' hit the target.

It's a coming-of-age story of a young teenager living in a challenging home environment whilst her need for love brings its own obstacles at school. Child abuse, in its psychological form, is evident but not simple in that the entire family is suffering. I even felt a tinge of pity for the nasty father who obviously had his own unnamed demons to deal with. The lesbian undertone was tasteful and the use of a real disaster an interesting angle.

Without shocks and melodrama, this slowburner was glued by the narrative. Consequently, screenwriter and director Kim Bora deserves the biggest kudos. That this was her first movie is remarkable, making her one I will always follow.

Actress Park Ji-hoo was perfectly cast, this also her first movie. The cinemaphotography deserves applause too.

Afterwards, I was pleased to read that 'House of the Hummingbird' has won many awards, including best at the Berlin and Busan film festivals.

I have always liked arthouse or melodramatic movies. The cinematography of this film is beautiful. A lot of people did find it boring due to the film's duration being too long and i might agree with it at some point. But that doesn't change the fact that i actually enjoyed watching the movie. The plot was amazing and all the actors were wonderful at their job. One reason why this movie is so special to me is because at some point throughout the movie, i could connect with the main character, Eun-hee.

I would definitely recommend watching this film. All you require is a little bit of patience.

Set in 1994, the film focuses on a 14 year old girl struggling with family and school, while trying to find her identity, which is something we all go through at that age, I guess. There were a few subject matters that were very well tackled in the film, considering the ages of the young actors, and more importantly the time period the film is supposed to be based on. Kids are usually very good in dramas, so there were no surprises in terms of their performances. There's a major event in the film that occurred in the mid 90s, which most foreigners probably aren't aware of, and which answers the question as to why the film was set in that period.

The only qualm I had with this film was its pace. Some scenes, in an effort to come across as poetic, just dragged on a tad bit.

"Among all the people you know, how many really understand what's going on inside you?"

House of Hummingbird is a bleak but beautifully told story of a girl drowning in childhood neglect who learns how to live by and for herself as she is confronted with the true transience and fragility of the bridges that connect us with others. Set in 1994 Seoul, the film is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age of both the director and her country.

The few melodramatic steps taken by the script are counterbalanced by how it avoids being overly cinematic; you forget you are watching a film. It's this distinction that spares it from a comparison to Eighth Grade. Where Bo Burnham crafted an expressive, modern, and quintessentially teenage coming-of-age, Bora Kim gives us a muted and nuanced story of an ageless soul coming to terms with a lonely existence. The nature of Eunhee's relationships with her Chinese teacher and one of her classmates bears a closer resemblance to Lost in Translation. While the themes of how we define family and fending for ourselves are both reminiscent of the 2018 Cannes darling Shoplifters.

At karaoke, Eunhee sings into the mic:

🎶 "Love is like glass. It shines so beautifully but breaks so easily. And how difficult it is now as I deal with the pieces..." 🎶

The sad notes of the film are hard-hitting, but like her teacher says when Eunhee asks about the residents protesting relocation, "Don't pity them. We don't really know their lives." And so are we reminded as such regarding the central character.

The film is framed from her perspective, letting us into this world only so far as Eunhee understands it. Free of stereotypes and cliches, the film takes us so far into the mental seclusion of adolescence, right to the home of internal angst--to the point where we are offended on behalf of Eunhee when someone says to her, "You only think about yourself..." It's only then we surface from the depths of her perspective.

House of Hummingbird is a true gem of a film. With the exception of an amateurish plot point written into the end, the film is perfect. Biggest surprise of the festival so far. .

Broken families and the broken souls they create. We shouldnt pity them as we know nothing about them. How one kind human changes and betters our life than our own broken family. We all have to leave this world atleast try to create a better world for others. This will be our heritage when we leave this world. Someone to remember us for the way we treated them, listened to them, understood them. Atlast "be kind" "Full of people whose faces we know but how many of those do we really understand"

Accurately represented conflicts between a Korean school girl and ordinary family in Gangnam district in 1994.

Korean family living in the same format of house as others. The purpose of children's life is captivated in school and cram school to be enrolled in the top university. Not much conversation between parents and children apart from school record. Therefore life in children is no fun at all.

Narrated well about how the schoolgirl tried to find the purpose of life and small fun things from the boring but unfair life.

House of Hummingbird is a movie I stumbled across one night and I just sat there mesmerized throughout its 2hr 18min run time. It has such a simple plotline (if you can even call it that), yet it engages you with character study, family drama, adolescent insecurities, loneliness and even grief.

It's a coming of age story about a teenage girl named Eunhee who is abused by her brother and shown little affection by her parents. She doesn't seem to have much interest in school as she sleeps in class without care. The closest people in her life are her best friend, a boyfriend and her teacher. The troubles and delights she shares with them are handled with such finesse that no incident ever seems forced or melodramatic.

Her life at home is filled with dysfunction. From her brother beating her for any form of disrespect to her parents fighting loudly right in front of their children. The way she reacts to events like this are not overt cries for attention, but are shown in her general personality or her simple day to day actions towards other people in her life. She deals with romance in the idealistic and sometimes naive views of the 14 year old girl she is. Whether she's getting in fights with her friend or dealing with being left by someone she's come to trust, she always reacts in such a realistic and sympathetic and human way.

A heartfelt drama taking place in the mid 90s, House of Hummingbird intertwines elements from its story to real life events that were big in South Korea like the death of Kim Il Sung and the Seongsu bridge collapse. This makes the characters feel even more real than the phenomenal acting and writing already does. It stands tall against other great coming of age works like Fish Tank, The Way Way Back, and Eight Grade. It's a shame that even though this South Korean movie also came out in 2019, Parasite recieved far more acclaim. I liked Parasite to an extent, but this film is much more worth your time.

"If you could choose to work in a movie site "House of Hummingbird" or "Parasite", where would you choose? "

I asked this question to many of my movie lover friends. Be cause it was in a theater at same time and critics loved both movies. But "House of Hummingbird" was well-known for poor working conditions and on the other hand "Parasite" was well-known for good working conditions. First, most of my friends chose "Parasite" even though they liked the other more. However I added one more to the question. "If you don't work on the site of "House of Hummingbird, Movie might not be finished." Then most of my friends said they will work even with poor working conditions.

We, me and my friends who support the movie women's movie are very serious about showing ticket powers to movie companies. In Korea, It is real to see women directors in major movie scenes. I know most countries are having the same problem but we are taking this seriously. So the second condition I asked my friends was not only some of my mean characteristics to make friends in trouble but want to see my friends feel the same as me that they are prioritizing women's movies more than any other movies.

So, the movie is about a middle school student named Eun-hee. Her family doesn't show interest in her and even her brother hits her. Outside of her school and house she is more cheerful. She has a friend who is also a victim of violence and a boyfriend, nice to her, these two make her alive. One day, She meets a new teacher who is even polite to youth.

The movie is very quiet unlike the Oscar award movie. Even the romance is not sweet. But why my friends liked it was because it was about us. Most of us are not important in the family if there is a brother. And not like unrealistic fantasy high teen movies it makes us feel comfortable. If you are Korean movie lover you will know there are not many teenage movies in Korea. Because the older generation didn't think school life was important. Important thing is going to a good college. We don't think it's true. It is possible I want to make precious memories with friends and family and not be ignored by parents and teachers with my test score. The Movie was hard to watch, it was very real. Many people feel helpless and lonely on these days.

Yes, we want to see more movies that talk about us - Korean women- like something even if it is miserable and lonely.

Bora Kim's first feature film "House of Hummingbird" is a solid masterpiece. The story might be feel little slow but when you are telling a story from a eighth grade girl point of view about a middle class family what she think a messed up family then you have to be slow and steady.

As a younger member of the family, Eun-Hee feel kinda left out from her family and confused about relationships between her family members. Slowly she started to picking the pieces of life as she sees other people life surround her and find out what's a family mean.

Background score and cinematography were marvelous, help to keep your attention to story.

A young teenage Korean girl lives with an abusive brother and sister with a mother and father who are constantly fighting. She meets a teacher who becomes a mentor as the girl struggles to find her way in the world. At two hours and nineteen minutes, the film drags and I found myself waiting for some happier times. The actors are fine but in the end this is not a feel good movie.

The society pressures you to stay in the straight line. You need to be a good student. You should listen to your older siblings. Take beating as approved if you are just a daughter in a family. However, Life is not a straight line. This is a story about a teenager girl finding her way out of adventerous and sometimes confusing maze called life.

The House of Hummingbird (Beolase) was creating unique mood that I couldn't see at other movies. The movie begins with the setting of the main character and explains the relationships between them. The most impressive thing was the events were based on real events and life of director. I believe this is why Beolsae could transfer message to audience and impact audience. I want to point out that Bolase's cinematography is amazing. Every transition, angle, lighting represents the events, emotion, and more. But Beolsae had some of awkwardness in some of shots. Some of shots were dragging a little and I thought some of shots should be edit more shorter. But overall, it was good movie with message.

There are movies that entertain, then there are movies that make you feel. House of Hummingbird is very much a deeply emotive experience, that stirs the soul and communicates existential truths with subtle yet sharp brush strokes, leaving as much a deep cut as it does gently lay down a beautiful flower. The performance by actress Park Ji-Hu who plays Eun-hee is raw, unfiltered, mature and grounded, she's so impressive that it doesn't take long to forget you're watching a movie and feel like you are witnessing someones life unfold in front of you. The cinematography finds a harmonious balance between intimate organic handheld shots, gracefully moving with the characters, then shifting to scenes with still shots, some like a beautiful painting capturing an ephemeral moment in time, others perfectly placed in narrow corridors and rooms, escaping the usual directors urge to find perfect symmetry, but instead embracing slight imperfections in alignment, a wall between the kitchen and hallway off centre for instance, with Eun-hee's room only half in shot, showing her disconnect from the family yet still being loosely tied to the periphery of her family piety. The film's tone somehow strikes a balance between a muted, sombre, yet ethereal and buoyant sense. I felt initially towards the end the script had tried too hard to hit me with too much tragedy, but as I reflected more on it, I opened up to a message I feel the director/writer was trying to convey; you cannot escape loss, pain, suffering. Every connection with someone will always have a part that feels broken, sunken and missing, but those who truly cared will always leave something tangibly beautiful in your heart and in your life.

Watched this after watching her new tv series "All of us are dead". This is one of those movies you'll either love it fully or won't understand. For example the movie "never rarely sometimes always".