The expression “being knee-high to a grasshopper” takes on a fresh significance in this touching tale of two young sisters who are sent to live with their alcoholic aunt while their mother mysteriously heads off in search of their absentee and seemingly good-for-nothing father. Scrupulously avoiding any hint of mawkishness in a film that was ripe with such temptations, American director So Yong Kim instead relies on her ability to get the best out of her two diminutive-looking protagonists. To her credit, she does achieve two heart-wrenchingly good, understated, and naturalist performances from the unrelated Kim Hee-yeon (Jin) and Kim Song-hee (Bin). Her accomplishment is made all the more impressive again for the fact that neither girl had received any formal training prior to making this neorealist film.
Moreover, with the cameras unobtrusively positioned no more than three feet off the ground, it is a work that looks to portray the world from the perspective of Jin and Bin alone. As a result, there are large gaps in the plot because no adult is ever going to explain things in a detailed manner to either a six year-old or a toddler. Instead, their mother (Lee Soo-ah) gives the girls a plastic piggy bank and tells them that she will have come back by the time that they have filled it up with coins. Needless to say, they take her literally and innocently start concocting ways to expedite her return to them. Throughout it all, the audience is able to witness the differing thoughtful expressions on the faces of these two surprisingly well-behaved and solemn children.
At the same time, the audience is still able to interpret the information that it is being given in a far better way than the two children can. Consequently, it is with a mixture of pathos and dread that they watch the girls cope with both their sense of dislocation and their distress at being separated from their mother. In addition, the film takes its name from an earth mound that the children stand on so that they can see the bus stop. Here, they have “planted” a tree branch in the stony earth. It may not have been Ms. Kim’s intended allegory, but this image is reminiscent of the gospel story where some seed fell on stony ground and did not grow. Indeed, the denouement can also be explored through the context of this parable.
Inspired, though, by the director’s own experiences of growing up in South Korea, this film is also notable for its minimalist approach to both plot and dialogue. For the first two acts, this works well. However, the heart did sink a little at the start of the third act when the manner in which Ms. Kim wished to bring this film to its conclusion became unclear. Instead, it unbearably looked like the audience was going to be asked to observe even more misery being heaped on these children’s heads. In hindsight, though, a simple, thoughtful, and mildly optimistic resolution was not that far off. Accordingly, keep the faith with this film and it will reward you!
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