The Way Home (Jibeuro) (2002)
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75% of critics liked it
(55 reviews) -
91% of users liked it
(5,091 ratings)
A youngster learns a valuable lesson about family, friendship, and love in this family drama from South Korea. Sang-woo (Yu Seung-ho) is a seven-year-old boy whose parents are divorced, and whose Mother (Dong Hyo-heui) has decided she needs a break from parenthood for the summer. Mother sends… More A youngster learns a valuable lesson about family, friendship, and love in this family drama from South Korea. Sang-woo (Yu Seung-ho) is a seven-year-old boy whose parents are divorced, and whose Mother (Dong Hyo-heui) has decided she needs a break from parenthood for the summer. Mother sends Sang-woo to the country to spend some time with his Grandmother (Kim Eul-bun), who is quite old, in poor health, and cannot speak. Sang-woo doesn't much care for his Grandmother, and prefers to spend his time playing with his hand-held video game rather than have anything to do with her. When the batteries die out in his game machine, Sang-woo heads into town to replace them, but before long, he gets lost with no way to find his way back to Grandmother's house. Eventually, two kids (Min Kyung-hun and Yim Eun-kyung) help Sang-woo find Grandmother's home, and he resigns himself to spending the summer with her. As time goes on, the wall between them begins to collapse, and Sang-woo comes to realize how much his Grandmother really means to him. A massive commercial success in its native South Korea, Jibeuro out-grossed Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring during its initial release on its home turf. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Rating, Runtime
- PG, 1 hr. 20 min.
- Directed By
- Lee Jung-hyang, Jeong-hyang Lee
- Written By
- Lee Jung-hyang, Jeong-hyang Lee
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
- In Theaters
- Nov 15, 2002 Limited
- On DVD
- May 6, 2003
- Studio
- Paramount Classics
Critic Reviews
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Janice Page, Boston Globe
Thanks to confident filmmaking and a pair of fascinating performances, the way to that destination is a really special walk in the woods.
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Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News
Eul-Boon Kim's soulful portrayal of the illiterate, deaf-mute grandmother illuminates the dignity of her demeanor and the sad resignation in her eyes.
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Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The film is meant to be simple and charming. Unfortunately, it's simple and boring.
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Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
[The kid's] selfishness is difficult to watch at times, but if you have patience on the level of Granny's, the payoff is big.
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Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
The pace is slow, the message none too subtle and the boy barely tolerable. But the film is still better than the mainstream run of movies from Hollywood.
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