Treeless Mountain (PG)

Tender, touching portrait of two young sisters' quiet resilience that casts a subtle spell

Director: So Yong Kim
Starring: Hee Yeon Kim, Song Hee Kim
South Korea, 2008, 1 hour 29 minutes, subtitles

Fri 5 March 8.00pm, Sun 7 5.00pm Ludlow Assembly Rooms
Wed 10 March 4.15pm, Thur 11 6.30pm, Fri 12 4.30pm The Courtyard Hereford

Two young girls, Jin and Bin, are left by their mother in the care of their aunt, a careless, unkind woman with little sympathy for their sense of loss. They amuse themselves, playing with the kid next door, catching grasshoppers and grilling them. The money they make goes in their piggy bank as mum promised to return once it was full. With a tender, observant eye Kim draws us into the girls' imaginative world showing their resilience as they learn to cope with the mysteries of adult behaviour. The children of course steal the show with their beautifully natural performances but it is Kim's thoughtful observation of their predicament that stays with you.