“O Mother where art thou?”

        “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard this 3 Continents flight to Treeless Mountain. We really hope you will enjoy your journey with us...”

         The title of the film in mind and comfortably coiled up in my armchair at the Katorza cinema, I was today nearly expecting to fly-off for a long-distance trip to some faraway land and its snow-covered mountains.

         But instead of that – and out of sheer happiness – I found myself face-to-face with the two sweetest little girls I had ever seen. It might have to do with the “naïvely sentimental” side of me but watching Treeless Mountain was truly a red-letter cinematographic experience for me and I must admit that I was thoroughly engrossed by the film from its opening frame to its end credits.

         Thus, although the scenario of this movie is not that original – two young sisters, Jin and Bin, are left by their confused mother in the care of their alcoholic aunt while she goes in search of her estranged husband – 6-year-old Hee-yeon Kim and 4-year-old Song-hee Kim (both unrelated to the film-director) deliver a pitch-perfect performance which undoubtedly brings tears to your eyes.

         Besides, the strength of the film also lies in the intensely personal feel intentionally conveyed by Korean-born writer/director So Yong Kim. What makes Treeless Mountain even more of a heartbreaker – apart from, of course, the utter dismay that can be read on the little girls’ faces – is indisputably its autobiographical yet universal resonance.

         Born in South-Korea, So Yong Kim immigrated to the United States when she was just 12. At the end of the screening, in a touching Q&A session, Kim explained, with a feeling that could not really be put into words, that Treeless Mountain “had been inspired by events from [her] early childhood in Pusan, Korea” but also doubled as a “letter to [her] mother”.

         I would never have thought that a film involving a piggy bank could move me that much. Following in Wordsworth’s footsteps, one can definitely say that “Child is father to the man”...

Marie-Agnès Lachèze