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mercredi 27 juin 2018

seoul searching: diaspora angst from a fresh angle

I just saw Seoul Searching, a 2015 film set in 1986 about kids from the Korean diaspora who are sent to a summer camp in Korea to learn more about Korean culture (basically the same as the root-seeking camps that the Chinese government does today for Sino diaspora kids that I've been to 3 times) and even though it was a bad movie I loved it so much. It was just so cute. My Letterboxd review (pasted below) says enough to be honest but I wanted to record the fact that I saw this film on my blog because I think it's really important. I'm actually quite surprised a film like this was even made. It's just a really sincere attempt to reflect the diasporic experience and it may be cheesy but it definitely spoke to me. I'd put it up there with Bend it Like Beckham as movies that are just wonderful and fun and about the diaspora. It's pretty sad that any film that even touches this subject is immediately entered into some sort of canon because there are so few of them, I guess, but I enjoyed this much more than, say, L'âme du tigre, which frankly took itself a bit too seriously and tripped over its angst. The diaspora angst in that film literally consumed the entire film whereas Seoul Searching and Bend it Like Beckham have actual plots. 

Anyway this is what I wrote on Letterboxd: 

i was gonna say "i was gonna say they shouldve ended the movie with the slo-mo fight but then we never would've seen sid and klaus dress up as each other" but i take it back because not only did the only half-black character get zero characterisation or closure and was used as just the token mixed kid / "ooo there's a half-black girl", but she was actually antagonised which is just so unfair to her - when even mike the predator got some half-assed attempt at redemption. my baby did nothing wrong!!
anyway this is a terrible movie full of stereotypes and cliches AND ALSO THE WORST BRITISH ACCENT IVE EVER SEEN LMAO HOW DID THAT GIRL GET CAST JFJDJKLFKLJDLJKS but i love it because it's so cute and earnest and sincere!!! this is diaspora angst done in a more unique and refreshing way <3
I got another message on Tumblr today from an anon who reads my blog and wanted to use the "things i like" format and it just shocks me that people actually read this like??? it's so messy and disorganised and i can barely put forth an articulated thought. thanks for bearing with me, the 3 people who view my posts <3 

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