House of Hummingbird

House of Hummingbird takes place in 1994. It follows protagonist Eunhee who is in the 8th grade for the duration of the film. Eunhee’s parents neglect her and her brother beats her. The film mostly follows Eunhee’s attempts to find stable, human connection and maybe love. However, the one constant in poor Eunhee’s life is the inconsistency of her relationships with others and that they will constantly disappoint her and her simple desire for connection and kindness.

Writer/director Bora Kim did not make it easy on herself by depicting her protagonist the way she does. Eunhee is almost the inverse of traits one associates with the lead character in a story. She is shy, soft-spoken and often passive. A major theme in the film is how often she is forgotten, overlooked and ignored. Many of the shots in the film shoot her from a distance and often from the back. This renders our protagonist anonymous; like we could lose track of her easily or she could disappear at any moment.

It is a testament to the writing, directing and acting that Eunhee manages to be the firm centre of this film that runs over two hours. Kim has managed to create a protagonist that is sympathetic and engaging even in her silences. Young actress Park Ji-hu also deserves major kudos here. Park rises to the challenge of playing such a subtle, quiet character with depth. House of Hummingbird sort of meanders around just showing Eunhee’s largely disappointing interactions with others. However, what keeps me from saying it felt pointless is that I was invested in this lead character.

One of Eunhee’s connections is to another girl at her school named Yuri. This is far from the most important subplot in the film but given the purpose of this site, it’s the one I’m going to talk most extensively about. Eunhee’s relationship with Yuri is fucking adorable until it isn’t. One thing that really surprised me was how unambiguous this relationship was. There is a very distinct divide between how Eunhee acts with her females friends and how she acts with Yuri. Additionally, Yuri really puts herself out there. She gives Eunhee a flower and later comes to visit her in the hospital providing gifts and a speech about how much she likes Eunhee. It’s incredibly sweet.

The scene where Yuri inevitably disappoints Eunhee is devastating. At the new term at school, Eunhee excitedly calls out to Yuri only for Yuri to ignore her like so many people in Eunhee’s life. Later, Yuri offers a simple explanation of why she blew her off. When Yuri said she liked her and gave her gifts, that was last semester. She’s over that now. It’s devastating and realistic. Both the girls are around age 14. It makes sense both that Eunhee would clutch tightly to this relationship and get emotionally invested and also for it not to be so serious for the equally young Yuri. It can be hard to watch House of Hummingbird. Eunhee’s desire for kindness and human connection is so simple and it’s heartbreaking to see her be constantly get disappointed in this.

The main problem with House of Hummingbird is the third act. The movie runs 138 minutes long. Usually, I would say that is too long. But I can’t really think of any scenes or subplots that needed to be minimized or cut. I do think that the third act needs some rearrangement, though. At the start of the third act, Eunhee gets surgery. In the aftermath, various characters visit her and Eunhee gets a new outlook on life. I expected this to be the end of the film. It isn’t. The problem is that the drama ramps up around the surgery but then tampers back down instead of staying steady. It makes the third act feel too long even though again, I can’t think of any scenes they could’ve cut. There just needed to be restructuring of events or an injection of drama into the last act of the film.

House of Hummingbird is a simple and emotional film. While the pacing gets iffy in the third act, this is a character and a story I remained invested in until the ending credits rolled. If you want to watch an affecting film about loneliness, disappointment and human connection, House of Hummingbird is absolutely the movie for you.

Overall rating: 8.1/10

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