In-Between Days

Remind you of The Cure song?

This new film ending its short fun at the IFC, which apparently the saving grace of the Sundance Film Festival this year, was written and directed by So Yong Kim. A simple, hands-off story without much dialogue (and what there is is mostly in Korean -- and subtitled in English), this feels-like-documentary follows the story of Aimie, an adolescent Korean F.O.B. in an unnamed (but clearly freezing-nipples cold) city in North America, as she negotiates school, an ambiguous love relationship, and an estranged mother. The stark, gravelly film was almost painful to watch, it was so well (as in subtly) acted. Jiseon Kim as Aimie is remarkably watchable -- to see her caught between Korean and Korean-American, child and adulthood, and all the gradations in between. I wasn't convinced about the use of sporadic voiceover (Aimie's imaginary letter to her father who left both wife and daughter), but nevertheless, it was an achingly beautiful portrayal of what it's like to be an immigrant.