It’s rare to feel like a movie just isn’t quite long enough. Usually, most films could do with less rather than more. But in the case of director Anthony Shim’s second film, Riceboy Sleeps when the credits roll, you are left wishing you could linger in the world he created for just a bit longer. The movie, which tells the story of So-Young (Choi Seung-yoon) and her son Dong-Hyung (Ethan Hwang), is a delicate snapshot of 90s Canada through a Korean immigrant lens. After Dong-Hyung’s father dies by suicide, So-Young makes the difficult decision to leave her Korean home in search of a better life for them, but the pair must learn to navigate the racism and complex differences of a western culture.
Those who see Riceboy Sleeps may find themselves comparing it to another poignant film about the Korean immigrant experience: Lee Isaac Chung’s 2020 Academy Award winning film Minari. While both movies place a strong emphasis on family ideals and coming-of-age in a largely white, western world, Shim’s take on these complex topics is tinged with a quieter sentimentality. The central focus of Riceboy Sleeps is the tender relationship between mother and son which is often fraught due to cultural differences and Dong-Hyung’s teenage rebellion. Both Choi and Hwang are magnetic in their roles, bringing a rawness to their parts that makes their characters instantly relatable. Their relationship is made all the more fraught with the ghost of Dong-Hyung’s father which looms large over their daily lives.
So-Young resists telling Dong-Hyung the truth about his father’s death, but when she receives some life-changing news, she makes the decision to return to Korea with her son so that he may experience the life and the people they left behind. Revolving around a particular Korean folktale in which a son carries his dying mother to the top of a mountain to die, Riceboy Sleeps gets much of its symbolism from the concept of carrying. In the beginning, So-Young carries her son literally (both in her womb and after he is born) and figuratively through their lives. But in the end, it is Dong-Hyung who must now carry her. The inherent message of Shim’s film is one of extreme care even in the face of hardship.
Those who have grown up trying to navigate two different cultures will also find a lot in common in Riceboy Sleeps. The scene where Dong-Hyung’s teacher asks So-Young to choose another more western name for her child so that it is easier for both her and the other students to pronounce is both heartbreaking and telling. Mother and son are outsiders in this new, western world that harbors many individuals — usually white — who are adamant about forcing them to adhere to a new set of cultural norms not because they think it will benefit So-Young and her son but because it will make things easier for them. This fact is made all the more apparent when So-Young argues with Dong-Hyung’s school principal over who should be punished after Dong-Hyung punched a group of children who were calling him racist slurs. Spoiler alert: only Dong-Hyung gets suspended. What feels remarkable in these moments though, is So-Young’s staggering ability to stand up for herself and her family. Often, she is furious with the inequities she and her son run into, and she allows this fury to be on full display.
There is so much care taken to telling the story of So-Young and her son that the only real critique of this film is simply that it could have used so much more time. The first half of the movie is riveting, but when the pair finally make it to Korea, that same mindful slowness that was afforded to the first hour seems to get sped up so that some of the most important and prescient bits of the movie feel like they pass by in the blink of an eye. This isn’t to say that those parts lose any meaning — they are still just as compassionate and moving — but rather that there is a desire to spend even more time with the characters, especially in their home country of Korea. Even so, Riceboy Sleeps is still a beautiful addition to the vast array of immigrant narratives being told today, and it should definitely not be missed
Photo courtesy of Game Theory Films
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