Bedford Park is Brilliant Debut from Stephanie Ahn

When we are kids, all we wish for is to become an adult.  Every kid believes that having independence or calling our own shots is the dream.  But, in reality, our relationships with our parent become very complicated.  In some instances, the roles become reversed.  This is particularly challenging when one has been adopted. You never seem to fit it, feel like you belong or feel like you are understood.

Haunted by an abusive childhood, Audrey (Moon Choi), a Korean American woman in her 30s, faces her emotional past when her mother’s car accident brings her back to her parents’ home.  Shortly thereafter, she meets Eli (Son Sukku) the man responsible for the accident. Being very different people, Audrey and Eli’s relationship builds, passions ignite, and they form a loving connection. But, they are both similarly haunted by their past.

Having lived through difficult times as children of immigrant parents, they carry their hurt and isolation in their adulthood with the accompanying confusion of how to care for family and themselves.

Moon Choi and Son Sukku equally shine bright like a diamond as two people who find each other amid all the guilt, anger, and “han,” and, in doing so, find a way to heal.

In her feature debut, writer-director Stephanie Ahn beautifully articulates the complicated emotional landscape of immigrant children who are now all grown up.

Grown ups who are still being manipulated by their past.  Learning that Eli was a wrestler who made the sport look like art until he badly burned his back and that Audrey’s family is eager to get rid of her by marrying her off helps you understand why they gravitate towards each other so strongly.

Bedford Park is a heartfelt expression of human experience not often seen on screen. It’s not a love story between two Korean people. It’s a love story between two human beings who feel seen by each other for where they are right now and for who they are right now…in this very isolating, poignant moment.