Treeless Mountain (2008)

In Seoul, Korea, two sisters must look after each other when their mother leaves them to search for their estranged father.

Director:

So Yong Kim (as So-yong Kim)

Writer:

So Yong Kim (as So-yong Kim)

Stars:

Chae Gil Byung, Jung Gil Ja, Shin Hyun Je

8 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Chae Gil Byung	...	Pedestrian in City
Jung Gil Ja	...	Minoo's Mom
Shin Hyun Je	...	Bus Driver
Kim Mi Jung	...	Hyun's Mom
Hee-yeon Kim	...	Jin
Il-Woo Kim	...	Man with Cellphone (as Kim Il Woo)
Mi-hyang Kim	...	Big Aunt
Song-hee Kim	...	Bin
Soo-ah Lee	...	Mom
Sung Sook Lee	...	Stall Lady
Lee Hyun Seo	...	Hyun
Park Boon Tak	...	Grandma
Lee Kang Won	...	Neighbor Lady
Ha Min Woo	...	Minoo
Lee Byung Yong	...	Grandpa

Storyline

What is the nature of childhood resilience? Sisters Jin and Bin, ages 6 and 3, live with their mother. Jin likes school and does well. One day, their mother leaves the girls with their father's sister, a woman they do not know. The mother seeks a reconciliation with their father. She leaves them a plastic piggy bank, promising to return when the bank is full. The girls scrub and clean for their aunt, a tippler who's often cranky and complaining. She gives them a few coins for their work. They earn more money catching, grilling, and selling grasshoppers. They miss their mother. The bank fills. They watch for her from a mound of dirt. Will she return? Will stoic faces give way to a smile?

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Plot Keywords:

girl | seoul | money | aunt | grasshopper | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France]

Country:

USA South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

27 August 2009 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Ağaçsız Dağ

Filming Locations:

Seoul, South Korea

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,014, 26 April 2009

Gross USA:

$60,336

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$124,023

Company Credits

Production Co:

Parts and Labor, Soandbrad

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min 89 min 89 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Lives unblessed

Perhaps the first duty of a parent is to make their children believe that their lives are blessed, until they're old enough to deal with the fact that they are not. 'Treeless Mountain' may be slight, but it's pregnant with the horror implicit in its story of two young children abandoned by their mother. Director So Yong-Kim gets some beautiful performances from his very young cast (especially Hee-yeon Kim, who plays the older girl), there's a touch of eastern exoticism for the western audience (grasshoppers for dinner, anyone?), a treatment of poverty both sensitive and realistic, and in the end, a gleam of hope through the pain.