Return to Seoul

Name: Return to Seoul
Genre: Drama
Released: December 2, 2022
Duration: 115 min
Rating: 87
Cast: Dong Seok Kim, Emeline Briffaud, Guka Han, Hur Ouk-Sook, Kim Sun-young

2022

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 37 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	Your Score
7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Ratings

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Return To Seoul (US Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: December 2, 2022 | Not Rated

Starring: Dong Seok Kim, Emeline Briffaud, Guka Han, Hur Ouk-Sook, Kim Sun-young, Kwang-rok Oh, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Park Ji-Min, Son Seung-Beom, Yoann Zimmer

Summary: After an impulsive travel decision to visit friends, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. Freddie suddenly finds herself embarking on (an unexpected) journey in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.

Director: Davy Chou

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 115 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Carlos Aguilar

Dec 1, 2022

A staggering masterwork that reveals itself unhurriedly, one permutation at a time, Chou’s third feature is perhaps the only film this year in which every single scene and every line of dialogue within them feel absolutely indispensable. The richness in every detail, and their unexpected ramifications over time, make for a one-of-a-kind character study. Read full review

100

RogerEbert.com Monica Castillo

Feb 17, 2023

Chou’s Return to Seoul is an uneasy exploration of the concept of home and the heartache of losing it, following an imperfect heroine on her emotional journey to find a home in herself. Read full review

100

The Independent Clarisse Loughrey

May 4, 2023

Go back to your roots, we’re always told, and you’ll find your heart’s true home. But in Davy Chou’s daring and mesmeric Return to Seoul, an adoptee’s search for her birth parents tears open wounds and unearths neither meaning nor resolution. Read full review

Kayti Burt

Oct 28, 2022

Though I missed the larger context of Freddie’s life, Return to Seoul’s commitment to staying in the moment creates an engrossing cinematic experience, an inextricable character portrait both intimate and fathomless. Read full review

Tara Brady

May 5, 2023

An ambivalent, accusatory depiction of intercountry adoption, Return to Seoul mines South Korea’s controversial adoption history to craft a smart if maddening character study. Read full review

Kevin Harley

Apr 25, 2023

Between bouts of partying and freeform dancing, newcomer Park Ji-min brings a near-musical virtuosity to this questing character piece. Read full review

Michael O'Sullivan

Feb 22, 2023

A carefully wrought character study of a person who lives life with careless abandon. Read full review

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User Reviews

Galaxy64

Feb 20, 2023

this was a masterpiece. well worth watching.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Ramato

Feb 19, 2023

powerful actress. love the editing, especially how the director tell the story and time passing with really cool cuts. soundtrack is very good. photography as well. overall a very good movie

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

JLuis_001

Apr 28, 2023

It doesn't pack much of an emotional punch because of the way it rambles on in sequences that aren't adding much to the character's personality.
I never felt like I was fully getting to know her, but you still don't lose sight of her quest.
I understand that one can intuit that with severalIt doesn't pack much of an emotional punch because of the way it rambles on in sequences that aren't adding much to the character's personality.
I never felt like I was fully getting to know her, but you still don't lose sight of her quest.

I understand that one can intuit that with several of these passages the director believes that this helps to know her better, but I felt at all times that there was a barrier between the character and her emotions.
A wall that doesn't break until the climax where it ends up breaking down once she gets the emotional catharsis she was looking for and clearly needed.

Return to Seoul is not a bad film but it involves immersing yourself in a story of identity and search for your origins that despite its quality, does not bring anything new that would give it an identity of its own that would separate it from other films with the same theme.

The film gets the job done because it works well enough, and that's commendable, it's just that it's a film that doesn't really stand out.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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