Elder Son
An Argentinian teenager and her Korean immigrant father navigate family, memory, and identity across three generations, as past and present collide in a beautifully photographed drama inspired by the filmmaker’s own family.
Description
“Where are you from?” That question asked of native-born Argentinian teenager Lila (Anita B. Queen), whose parents immigrated from Korea, hovers over Cecilia Kang’s remarkable drama inspired by her own family’s story. The documentary director’s first narrative feature unfolds in three parts as Lila and her taciturn father Antonio (Chang Sung Kim) join a reunion with his rowdy friends to fish and talk about the old days. Then traveling back in time, the drama observes a brash, young Antonio (Sang Bin Suh) in Uruguay as he struggles to make a life for himself and with guilt over leaving his wife and Lila’s older sister in Korea. The last act gets to the heart of the matter in documentary footage of Kang’s parents poring over old photos as they reminisce about settling in South America. Gorgeously photographed, in both fiction and fact, Kang pays loving homage to her parents’ immigrant journey. —Pam Grady
Biographies
Buenos Aires, Argentina, native Cecilia Kang began her career making documentaries that examined the cultural dualism of being a Korean Argentinian. Among her films are My Last Failure (2016) and A Boat Departed Taking Me Away (2023), which won three awards at the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival, including a special jury prize and audience award. Elder Son (Hijo mayor), winner of the Best Emerging Director Award at the Locarno Film Festival, is her first narrative feature.