Eden (2012)

A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, cooperates with her captors in a desperate ploy to survive.

Director:

Megan Griffiths

Writers:

Richard B. Phillips (screenplay), Megan Griffiths (screenplay)

Stars:

Jamie Chung, Beau Bridges, Matt O'Leary

9 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Chung	...	Eden
Beau Bridges	...	Bob Gault
Matt O'Leary	...	Vaughan
Eddie Martinez	...	Mario
Tantoo Cardinal	...	The Nurse
Tracey Fairaway	...	Abbie
Scott Mechlowicz	...	Jesse
Roman Roytberg	...	Ivan
John Farrage	...	Avni
Laura Kai Chen	...	Oma
Joseph Steven Yang	...	Apa
Tony Doupe	...	Greer
Russell Hodgkinson	...	Dave
Bhama Roget	...	Janine
Jon S. Robbins	...	Bill

Storyline

A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, cooperates with her captors in a desperate ploy to survive.

---

Plot Keywords:

prostitution | kidnapping | sex trafficking | rape | torture | 

---

Taglines:

Kidnapped. Sold. Determined to survive.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent and sexual content involving human trafficking, language and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Chinese Spanish

Release Date:

19 July 2013 (UK)

Also Known As:

Abduction of Eden

Filming Locations:

Douglas County, Washington, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eden Productions (II), Centripetal Films, Clatter & Din

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There is a scene in the movie in which each of the girls are wearing numbers, so that the "customer" can select who he wants more easily. Eden is wearing the number 7. In South Korean culture, the number 7 is considered a lucky number.

---

Goofs

The girl that Eden was forced to execute did speak Russian, not Ukrainian as the subtitles state.

---

Connections

References The Beverly Hillbillies (1962)

---

Soundtracks

Love More
Performed by Sharon Van Etten
Courtesy of Ba Da Bing! Records
By arrangement with Bank Robber Music

User Reviews

A movie that fails to capture you the way it should have...

When I read the storyline behind Eden, I was eager to watch it so as to have a glimpse of perhaps what Chong Kim (the person on whom this movie is based) would have gone through when she was kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Sadly, the movie fails to deliver.

Now I can understand that bringing this real life story to the big screen cannot be an easy task, considering they have take into account the sensitive nature of the same; but the movie does a botched up job of trying to grip its audience of the grueling ordeal that Chong Kim had to go through and frankly speaking its quite disappointing.

Let's begin with the screenplay, the movie starts on a good note and just when you think its going somewhere; it totally skips ahead! Its as though the director just cut out a ton of scenes in between and jumped ahead, and that's where you totally lose interest in the movie. It starts to look like a puzzle that lacks all the pieces to turn it into something that makes sense and that's where the movie just starts to drag terribly. I don't know if the director was even making an attempt towards establishing a strong base for the protagonist as a character. To me, it was as though Jamie Chung was just doing her lines and some form of movements which I certainly would not call as acting. Again, Matt O'Leary's and Beau's performance too was just ordinary.

So there you have it folks, I would not recommend this for even a one time watch and that truly is a shame because I do feel Chong Kim's story needs to be heard by everyone in order for us to know what's really going on out there in the world. The world gets a little darker every day as we lose sight of our humanity and I think that there are plenty of good media out there for letting the people know the real story of not just Chong Kim but the millions more like her. I give this movie a 5 on 10 only because I read a few articles of her story and the tough times she went through, and that has sort of influenced my rating here; so in terms of film making as a whole, I'd say the crew involved have done a shoddy job.