14-year-old Eun-hee moves through life like a hummingbird searching for a taste of sweetness wherever she may find it. Ignored by her parents and abused by her brother, she finds her escape by roaming the neighborhood with her best friend, going on adventures, and exploring young love.
Beol-sae, House of hummingbird, Casa del colibrí, 벌새, 蜂鸟, はちどり, Дом колибри, Gniazdo kolibra, Колібрі, En kolibris liv, Sinek Kuşu, Будинок колібрі, Casa de Beija-Flor, Колибри, 我們與愛的距離, Tổ Của Chim Ruồi
South Korea Busan International Film Festival 
Germany Berlin International Film Festival 
Canada18A 
Mexico 
Netherlands12 
USA South Korea15 South Korea15 
JapanPG12 Canada Germany Japan Mexico Netherlands South Korea USA 
You said you liked me.
That was last semester.
Being fourteen is full of moments and people which are transitory: The girl who once held your hand will ignore you when the new school year comes. Jumping on a trampoline in the sunlight. A death in the family. A fight with your best friend (but this won’t last forever). A mix tape, lovingly made but never gifted. Other moments will stick with you forever, like the scar behind the ear after a solo stay at the hospital.
Set in 1994 in Seoul, against the backdrop of the Seongsu Bridge collapse, writer-director Bora Kim’s debut feature House of Hummingbird is a gorgeous, introspective coming-of-age film about the young Eunhee (an incredibly…
if you don't face any existential crisis on eighth grade are you even an eighth grader
"What's the right way to live? Some days I feel like I know, but I really don't know for sure. I just know that when bad things happen, good things happen too. And that we always meet someone and share something with them. The world is fascinating and beautiful."
how can something so beautiful make me feel so devastated??? kim bora is absolutely one to watch folks
“Among all the people you know, how many do you understand?“
House of Hummingbird is a beautiful film that captures, and makes you feel, a wide range of emotions. I’m so excited to see more from writer/director Bora Kim after this debut.
The film is long, and some of the slower and quieter parts can be frustrating. But right when any scene feels too bleak or numb, Hummingbird offers just enough sweetness to keep us going. It’s one of those rare movies that makes you want to close your eyes and sit for a while.
I read in an interview with the director that the film took inspiration from nightmares she was having about her childhood and adolescence. No wonder this film hit me like a ton of bricks. The visceral memories of interpersonal trauma are like daggers in this film. Above all, Eun-hee is incredibly lonely; and every time that she confides in someone, she gets burnt. It's unsurprising then that Eun-hee has fits of rage, given everything that she is put through, and at times I wanted to scream with her. And that's the beauty of this film. It touches on child and adolescent anguish in ways that many coming-of-age films fail to. It acknowledges the interpersonal traumas we have all gone through, to a greater or lesser degree, and doesn't shy away from taboo feelings such as self-hatred and rage. I found it very cathartic to confront: an excellent film.
“When will my life shine?”
Beautifully felt, such a special script. Demands to be rewatched almost immediately.
For every bad things that happens, something good occurs to even it out.
This one is gonna stick with me for a long time.
Kim Bo-ra doesn’t make movies, she writes poetry.
Full of people whose faces we know, but how many of those do we really understand?
I just know that when bad things happen, good things happen, too. And that we always meet someone and share something with them. The world is fascinating and beautiful.
Sometimes time doesn’t always heal, it only hides your scars.
Now, I just want to hug Eun-hee even tightly.
"What's the right way to live?"
Teenage wasteland; one of neglect, abuse, ill-advised choices, betrayal, transient friendships and confusion. Sprinkled over this freight train of melancholy are genuine moments of warmth: reconciliation, heartfelt advices, and life-altering conversations.
Faint glimmers of hope last just long enough that it cuts like a knife when they are emphatically snatched away.
A summer of scars. Making friends and losing them. Often ignored by her parents who give preferential treatment to her older brother. Young love that awkwardly enters her life but exits swiftly; hollow and empty like a ghostly apparition. She talks back and is short-tempered, but who can blame her? Forcibly pushed into maturity in haste and without compassion, her chamber of memories…
A warm still life about a teenager’s struggle to find herself in a country that’s racing to do the same, Kim Bora’s “House of Hummingbird” so patiently contrasts its contemplative coming-of-age story against the backdrop of South Korea’s hyper-modernization that even its stillest and most tender scenes can feel like an optical illusion. Specifically, the wagon-wheel effect, where something spins forward so fast that it appears to be moving in reverse.
Kim Bora’s semi-autobiographical (or at least age-aligned) debut is set in Seoul circa 1994. A tightly coiled 14-year-old girl named Eun-hee (Park Ji-hoo) looks for solid ground while her anxious middle class family strives for a higher foothold, as their nation embraces a democratic future and the social mobility…
“I just know that when bad things happen, good things happen, too. And that we always meet someone and share something with them. The world is fascinating and beautiful.”
...and this is exactly why I'm emotionally wrecked right now. Time doesn't always heal, sometimes it only hides your scars. People come, people go, people leave.
Behind any anonymous door there are people attempting to navigate life. House of Hummingbird is a stunning feature debut by Kim Bo-ra, who has crafted a film inflected by Edward Yang and Lee Chang-dong, utilising their devastating worlds and ability to create powerful microcosms.
House of Hummingbird is a coming of age story, of both the lead character and South Korea itself. The collapse of the Seongsu Bridge is a reminder of the transition Korea took as it moved from a developing nation to a developed one.
Setting the film in 1994 allows House of Hummingbird to represent a point in time. When the lead character, Eun-hee, loses contact with those she cares for it is devastating, a reminder of…
