There comes a time in many lives when a kind of matter transference takes place in the relationship between parent and child. Like a sudden change of filter or aspect ratio, we see our mothers and fathers in new ways, realizing they existed before we did, thought thoughts and felt feelings entirely separate from our own. Almost always, it’s a flower of understanding that blossoms just a bit later than we would like and when it does, it asks of us an impossible question: what to do with this new knowledge, this strange flood of retrospective awe? Perhaps, when you’re far on the other side, looking back through the reverse end of time’s telescope, and if you’re Canadian director Anthony Shim, you make a film like “Riceboy Sleeps,” a familiar immigrant song sung in such an elegant, sincere voice that it feels like a whole new arrangement.
- 5/5/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The summer season is upon us and, per each year, we’ve dug beyond studio offerings (though a few potential highlights remain) to present an in-depth look at what should be on your radar. From festival winners of the past year to selections coming straight from Cannes to genre delights to, yes, a few blockbuster spectacles, there’s more than enough to anticipate.
Check out our picks below and return for monthly updates as more is sure to be added to the calendar.
Riceboy Sleeps (Anthony Shim; May 2)
So-Young (Choi Seung-yoon) didn’t want to leave South Korea. She had no choice. The father of her newborn son committed suicide and, as an orphan who was never adopted, she had no other family. So, with nowhere to turn and a boy who couldn’t legally become a citizen due to being born out of wedlock, she immigrated to Canada to start anew.
Check out our picks below and return for monthly updates as more is sure to be added to the calendar.
Riceboy Sleeps (Anthony Shim; May 2)
So-Young (Choi Seung-yoon) didn’t want to leave South Korea. She had no choice. The father of her newborn son committed suicide and, as an orphan who was never adopted, she had no other family. So, with nowhere to turn and a boy who couldn’t legally become a citizen due to being born out of wedlock, she immigrated to Canada to start anew.
- 4/25/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The title of Anthony Shim’s semi-autobiographical film comes from an insult hurled at young Dong-hyun (Dohyun Noel Hwang) on his first day at school – his first taste of racism after moving from Korea to Canada. He will subsequently throw his gimbap in the bin and beg his mother So-young (Choi Seung-yoon) for a packed lunch more like those eaten by the other kids. There is no support whatsoever offered by the school, which treats his ethnicity as a problem to be solved and even asks his mother to give him a new name. She’s keen to fit in, and so he comes to be known as David in public – a name not used at home unless he’s in trouble. When she gets to know other Korean immigrants at work, So-young discovers that they, too, have changed their children’s names.
Taking away a name has been used throughout history as.
Taking away a name has been used throughout history as.
- 3/6/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Winner of the Audience Award at Busan and San Diego Asian Film Festival, and the Platform in Toronto, among a plethora of other awards in festivals all around the world, “Riceboy Sleeps” is a film that highlights the progress of Asian-American cinema in the best fashion, as one of its best representatives.
Riceboy Sleeps screened at Red Sea International Film Festival
The film begins in 1990, in Canada, when So-young, a widow and a single mother, arrives and tries to make a new life there along with her baby son. However, things are not easy, as she has to work long hours in the factory that employs her, while Dong-hyun is bullied at school by other children who call him riceboy due to the Korean meals his mother packs for him. A violent incident makes things worse while highlighting the mentality of the then Canadian environment towards immigrants. Ten years later,...
Riceboy Sleeps screened at Red Sea International Film Festival
The film begins in 1990, in Canada, when So-young, a widow and a single mother, arrives and tries to make a new life there along with her baby son. However, things are not easy, as she has to work long hours in the factory that employs her, while Dong-hyun is bullied at school by other children who call him riceboy due to the Korean meals his mother packs for him. A violent incident makes things worse while highlighting the mentality of the then Canadian environment towards immigrants. Ten years later,...
- 12/9/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Anthony Shim joins the likes of Kamila Andini (“Yuni”) and Pablo Larrain (“Jackie”) with the historic win of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform Prize for his debut feature, “Riceboy Sleeps.” In this sober slice-of-life, he tells a 2-part story of a single immigrant mother, So-young (played by newcomer Choi Seung-yoon) surviving in the heart of Canada with her son, Dong-hyun (Dohyun Noel Hwang) in the 1990s. In the beginning, the two learn to navigate the social labyrinth of being East Asian in a mostly white town. They displace their background – and by so doing, their dignity – little by little to assimilate. They replace gimbap with sandwiches; exchange Korean names for English ones; turn the other cheek instead of fighting back. In the first half of “Riceboy Sleeps,” the all-too-familiar seeds for internalized self-hatred sow and flourish before viewers the silver screen.
Riceboy Sleeps screened at Toronto International Film...
Riceboy Sleeps screened at Toronto International Film...
- 9/24/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
After 11 days and over 200 films, Toronto International Film Festival finally came to a close on Sunday. On the ground, much of the buzz seemed geared towards upcoming fall releases, like “Glass Onion: Knives Out”, “The Fabelmans”, “The Woman King”, and “Pearl.” TIFF juries seemed to think otherwise, however. Independent productions have taken home most of the awards, with a good half of them being Asian identifying filmmakers took home near half of the awards. Of these, at least 25 percent identify as Asian Canadian, and at least three do not identify as cisgender male. The range has also been notable. With productions ranging from Mongolia (“Snow in September”) to Palestine (“A Gaza Weekend”), from sleepy towns in Canada (“Riceboy Sleeps”) to film sets in the Philippines (“Leonor Will Never Die”), the list of movies reveals the sheer diversity in the continent of Asia – and all the diasporas accompanying it.
But without further ado,...
But without further ado,...
- 9/21/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
So-Young (Choi Seung-yoon) didn’t want to leave South Korea. She had no choice. The father of her newborn son committed suicide and, as an orphan who was never adopted, she had no other family. So, with nowhere to turn and a boy who couldn’t legally become a citizen due to being born out of wedlock, she immigrated to Canada to start anew. There she would build a home for the two of them and a wall in front of her past. Questions about Dong-Hyun’s (Dohyun Noel Hwang at six and Ethan Hwang at sixteen) father were delayed indefinitely and ultimately left unanswered no matter how many times he asked. So-Young only wanted to look forward and, eventually, so did Dong-Hyun. Until their future together was unceremoniously stolen away.
Writer/director Anthony Shim knows this sense of being caught between worlds well considering he too was a Korean...
Writer/director Anthony Shim knows this sense of being caught between worlds well considering he too was a Korean...
- 9/11/2022
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
TIFF: ‘Riceboy Sleeps’ Director Talks Minimal, Single Camera Coverage: “That Was The Scariest Thing”
Click here to read the full article.
Hollywood directors routinely capture on a movie set extra camera footage and angles, or “coverage,” to later give them options in the edit suite.
Not Anthony Shim, director of Riceboy Sleeps. He avoided shooting coverage when his single camera rolled on the set for his Korean and English language immigrant drama having its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
“We didn’t shoot any coverage. That was the scariest thing,” Shim told The Hollywood Reporter about he and director of photography Christopher Lew’s single camera going instead for one-take, choreographed and continuous wide camera shots that cover all the dialogue and visuals in a scene.
In the hands of a master director, such as Martin Scorsese and his opening Copa shot in Goodfellas, minimal camera coverage could be the making of cinematic legend. But for a second feature director like Shim,...
Hollywood directors routinely capture on a movie set extra camera footage and angles, or “coverage,” to later give them options in the edit suite.
Not Anthony Shim, director of Riceboy Sleeps. He avoided shooting coverage when his single camera rolled on the set for his Korean and English language immigrant drama having its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
“We didn’t shoot any coverage. That was the scariest thing,” Shim told The Hollywood Reporter about he and director of photography Christopher Lew’s single camera going instead for one-take, choreographed and continuous wide camera shots that cover all the dialogue and visuals in a scene.
In the hands of a master director, such as Martin Scorsese and his opening Copa shot in Goodfellas, minimal camera coverage could be the making of cinematic legend. But for a second feature director like Shim,...
- 9/11/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.