House of Hummingbird - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

House of Hummingbird



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I’m a sucker for first time directors/writers who get a lot of press at the various film festivals. Especially ones from South Korea, as directors like Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook have been making great leaps and strides in solidifying the small country’s film efforts as a major player on the worldwide stage. As such I was eagerly awaiting House of Hummingbird, having heard it was the next big one coming to America. Well, I may not completely agree with the gushing film festival reviews, but I have to say, first time Writer/Director Bora Kim has done a great job at creating an intensely focused character drama his first time out of the gate. Previous to this entry all the man has done is direct and write a single short film in each category, and then comes straight into the feature film department with a near 2.5 hour long character drama that is a bit overly long, and bit drier than anticipated, but still a very impressive first film (most directors don’t get NEAR this level coming straight out of the gate, unless they have had years of writing and background work under their belt instead of being a relative newcomer).

The most obvious connection for House of Hummingbird is that of Thornton Wilder’s Bride of San Luis Rey about the collapse of a rope bridge in a Peruvian village in the 1700s. The story revolves around the semi auto-biographical younger days of Bora Kim and the collapse of the Seongsu bridge in Seoul during the mid 1990s. Taken from the perspective of of a teenage girl named Eun-hee (Park Ji-Hoo) and her troubled childhood. From all accounts the story revolves around the bridge, but after watching the drama twice, I have to say that the bridge is nothing but a climactic moment of the film, and instead is a focal point for the troubled childhood of Eun-hee. A character drama that languidly and leisurely walks us through her teenage years, culminating in the bridge collapse, and using it as an anchor point for the for her burgeoning adulthood.

Needless to say, a straight out summary of the plot is moot as the story is more an unfolding of life events of Eun-hee more than a traditional story. We get to see her rocky relationship with her parents. A verbally abusive father and the beleaguered mother who sticks by him. Her troubles in school, and her relationships with classmates around her, and her one single solace in the form of boyfriend Ji-wan (Jeong Yoon-seo) and friend Ji-suk (Park Seo-yoon) midst the wave of bullying by classmates and negligence by her busy parents (who are too busy with their rice and groceries business to really see what is going on at school).

Bora Kim delicately balances slice of life happenings for the young girl, with the emphasis on school bullying and personal sacrifice that crops up throughout the movie. However, something has been bothering me since I watched the movie the first time, and it took a discussion with another reviewer from another site to really trigger WHY I felt something was off in the film. The movie really tries for a visceral look at what happens inside this one girl’s struggle to attain adulthood, but the entire film seems devoid of emotion. Good, bad, everything that happens in the film and every person in the film seems almost deadpan in their delivery. I’m not sure whether it’s a cultural thing that I’m missing out on as a westerner, or whether Bora Kim couldn’t grasp on how to emotionally convey things, but it strangely sapped the film of it’s intensity and emotional impact (at least for me personally), which left me feeling as if the film does so well, but fails to really hit you where you live with the messages that he weaves into the 2+ hour film.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

House of Hummingbird comes to Blu-ray with a very nice looking AVC encode in a 1.85:1 to framing. The digital film is amber colored for many of the inside shots, but also uses hints of green and teal to portray a more somber mood. There’s some color banding in dimly lit interior shots (that amber hue also sometimes diminishes the depth of the black levels). Other than those small quirks, the film looks rather impressive, with great facial details (you can see acne and little razor burns upon faces), and background structures (such as the school houses) show plenty of fine details. The film may not be totally jaw dropping, but the Well Go USA encode is very satisfactory and the distinct stylistic choices of Bora Kim are lovingly recreated.








Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA Korean track (there’s no English dub) is very satisfactory, and should be noted that it is VERY much a drama track. That means it’s massively front heavy, with only the score and a few ambient background noises (such as the hustle and bustle of the classroom) to light up the surround channels. Vocals are clean and clear despite some low muttering and whispering, and the sound track has a few moments that actually really liven up the mix. It incorporates a haunting score with a few hard hitting mid bass moments and a light and airy feeling as it pushes the narrative forward. It’s not going to wow and shock you, but as a dramatic track it hits all the right notes and proper check boxes to be a good mix from beginning to end.













Extras:

• Teaser
• Berlin Trailer
• Trailer
• Well Go USA Previews

Final Score: ​

House of Hummingbird wasn’t what I expected, but I still really enjoyed the EXPERIENCE. Director Bora Kim strangely uses a complete lack of emotion to convey many of the themes and experiences of growing up in Seoul during the 1990s, and rather elegantly weaves a bunch of seemingly disconnected slices of life experiences into a single cohesive narrative. Even if that narrative is really a bit over long in my humble opinion (30 minutes could have easily been trimmed). The story is impactufl, but beware, those who are not accustomed to slow burn dramas may not appreciate it as much. While there are some flaws and disconnects, Bora Kim’s first entry into the feature film world is rather impressive, as is Well Go USA’s very good Blu-ray presentation (minus the typical lack of extras, of course). Solid Watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ji-hu Park, Sai-byeok Kim, Seung-Yun Lee, In-gi Jeong
Directed by: Bora Kim
Written by: Bora Kim
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: Korean: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Korean DD 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 139 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 4th, 2020

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out once available on netflix/amazon prime.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

That'll go on my list. Looks well-made. Thanks!