In Riceboy Sleeps, an immigrant mother and son adjust to life in Canada amidst racism and loneliness. But when catastrophe strikes, it’s time to make connections with people and places long left behind.
Riceboy Sleeps
Anthony Shim (director, writer and editor), Christopher Lew (cinematographer)
Choi Seung-yoon, Ethan Hwang, Dohyun Noel Hwang, Anthony Shim (cast)
September 11, 2022 (TIFF)
Content warning: racism, workplace harassment
So-young (Choi Seung-yoon) and her son, Dong-Hyun (Dohyun Noel Hwang as the younger version and Ethan Hwang as a teenager) immigrate to Canada following the death of Dong-Hyun’s father. At work, So-young struggles with dull work and sexist colleagues. Meanwhile, as the only Korean at school, Dong-Hyun is incessantly bullied for what he eats, his name and the way he looks. But when he fights back, he’s the one punished instead of his bullies.
Riceboy Sleeps was a late addition to my TIFF 2022 roster. I do wish I’d got to see the premiere screening with the cast and director Q&A because I think that might have impacted how I felt about the film. However, I saw a press screening and came away with just my thoughts—that this film could have been much stronger but it relied a bit too heavily on clichés.
The first 40 minutes of the film are really solid. Riceboy Sleeps starts in 1990 with a time jump in between to 1999. I found that the 1990 section was much better scripted and more believable. The 1999 section, arguably the bulk of the film, takes a melodramatic turn and has three endings. It became like watching a prolonged death scene in an opera and it took me out of the viewing experience.
Touted as a film about the Canadian immigrant experience, Riceboy Sleeps quickly slips into being a family drama, a reconciliation with one’s heritage, a coming-of-age story, and a study of teenage angst. As such, the film loses focus at the end, which is unfortunate because the first hour had me completely hooked. I can imagine so many migrants to Canada seeing their story come to life in that section.
I’d say the moment the film moved away from the immigrant story, it lost its way and my interest. The 1999 section becomes almost generic. So-young is still in the same job, but she’s made new friends and has a boyfriend. Dong-Hyun isn’t being bullied anymore and now has his own group of friends. So, the drama needs to be manufactured to stretch the film out. And the twist that happens is so cliché. I was watching the scene unfold and I felt so profoundly disappointed that Riceboy Sleeps went in that direction. From all the amazing stories this film could have told and this is what it went with?
What happens as a result of this twist is that we get a whole new plotline that feels disconnected from the 1990 story. It felt like I was starting from scratch with the film—So-young’s life is similar but Dong-Hyun is literally a new person. Plus, we have Simon (Anthony Shim), the boyfriend, who adds a new dynamic to the mother-son relationship. We need to relearn everything about the characters so Riceboy Sleeps ends up feeling like two movies smooshed into one. That tactic can work in films but the 1990 storyline is so impactful that the 1999 one just drags.
Having said all that, So-young is one of the most amazing characters I’ve seen, especially So-young in 1990. She’s the epitome of resilience. Despite being dealt a terrible hand, well before the death of her partner, she’s a fierce warrior for herself and her son. The sexism and racism are awful in the 1990 storyline but I absolutely loved watching So-young rip people to shreds. Look, I know it’s not always possible to stand up for yourself in real life but it’s so dang cathartic watching So-young do it on the big screen.
As fun as it is to watch So-young cut people down to size, the character wouldn’t be such a thrill to watch if it wasn’t for Choi Seung-yoon’s unbelievable performance. Aside from Riceboy Sleeps, Seung-yoon has only one short film in her credits. But if this is her first feature performance, I can only hope that she’s given the opportunity to do a whole lot more. Because wow, what an incredible, raw, realistic performance she gives. Her mannerisms, her physicality in both time periods, her reactions to events happening to and around her—it feels like we’re watching a real person, not an actor. I would go so far as to say Seung-yoon’s is the best performance I’ve seen at TIFF 2022.
The boys playing Dong-Hyun are good. Dohyun Noel Hwang has great chemistry with his on-screen mother so their scenes together feel very emotionally resonant. Ethan Hwang as the older Donh-Hyun is the more Canadian version and does seem more like a regular North American teenager acting out and being angry at his mum for no reason. His emotional range is thus a little more stunted until the very end of the film.
(On a side note, can I say how nostalgic I felt for ’90s housing prices (even though I was nowhere near Canada at the time)? So-young has a very ’90s-ish house that is enormous in comparison to what a single mom would be able to afford in Toronto now.)
I was so looking forward to Riceboy Sleeps and while it does validate the Canadian immigrant experience in opening section, the latter part of the film becomes overstuffed. By losing focus on the family story it started with, the film leans into too many cliches before turning into a full-blown melodrama. A strong performance by the lead actor almost saves this film. Watch it to feel seen as an immigrant in Canada but know that it takes a pretty sharp turn partway through.
