Little Forest is such a soothing little film. It clocks in at about an hour and a half but you never really notice the time passing.
First of all, this Korean film is a foodie’s dream. The amount of Korean food that is prepared by the main character is enough to fill a restaurant. I wanted to try everything. South Korean director Im Soon-rye brought the food to life. I could almost smell it.
The story line of the film itself seems light at first. There’s no direct conflict, there’s no villain, there is no anti-hero. This is all about a girl who’s flailing after she got word that she didn’t pass the entry exam while her boyfriend did. She escapes the big city and goes back to the house she grew up in, literally in the middle of nowhere.
Hye-won, played excellently by Kim Tae ri, cleans the house where her mother abandoned her and that’s when you realize something else is at play. It’s not just girlfriend/boyfriend stuff, it’s about a mother-daughter relationship. The mother is never there, but she’s not completely gone either. There are a lot of flashbacks where the mom is telling Hye-Won a story or teaching her how to prepare something. But that’s only in the past that the two of them are together. In the present, the mom writes a letter with a recipe because she thinks Hye-won might need it. It’s like checking in without physically checking in.
The movie shows the connection Hye-won has with her mother through food and it is so achingly real. How many of us grew up in the kitchen with our mothers or fathers? Is family bonding not happening over shared bread at the table? Certain dishes bring back certain memories and it may sometimes be bittersweet.
Im Soon-rye takes us through the seasons as we see how Hye-won farms and harvests most of the produce herself. It makes for an interesting story structure. Her two friends are there as well, providing some laughs and necessary dialogue in the film.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this movie. There’s an interesting story, beautiful food, well-written dialogue where you’re not handed the entire plot on a plate (pun intended).
If you’d like to see the trailer with English subtitles, here it is.
