House of the Seasons

This hearty, accomplished debut feature follows the highs and lows of a multi-generational family running a tofu factory in Daegu.

Three generations of a bickering South Korean family gather to commemorate their ancestors on a hot summer’s day in rural Daegu. As the women toil away making dishes for the feast, their request for air conditioning is denied by the matriarch, Mal-neyo. It’s a decision quickly reversed when Seong-jin – the Kim clan’s sole grandson, poised to inherit the factory but instead chasing an acting career in Seoul – arrives. The summer gives way and, as the seasons change, farewells, celebrations, deaths and feasts form the mosaic of the Kims’ year; all the while, the spectre of the Korean War casts an inescapable shadow.

Eschewing close-ups in favour of breathy takes that naturally illuminate the drama, Oh Jung-min’s first feature is exquisitely shot, particularly when tracking this assortment of relatives brought together by a table laden with scrumptious meals. Bittersweet and tragic yet leavened by an earnest humour, House of the Seasons has shades of Edward Yang’s lauded drama A One and a Two (MIFF 2002) and Ang Lee’s intimate Eat Drink Man Woman.

“In his exceptional, happy-sad-funny debut film, Oh Jung-min creates a beautiful tapestry of intimate sprawl, as three generations of a meddlesome, quarrelsome, loving Korean clan experience all the colors of familial life.” – Variety