So much average

Admirable film.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This movie was so good that i literally just created an imdb account to rate this move. Wish more people knew about this movie. Came across it on netflix but it man it was damn good

Based on true events, Seoul Searching appears to be a film full of 80s tropes and wild teens, but becomes much more through the telling of writer and director, Benson Lee's, own experiences at a camp in Seoul. With a serious introduction that is quickly forgotten as the characters are introduced, the movie seems like simple drama surrounding teens' antics, but there's more than the bad boy and Madonna-crazed girl. As Seoul Searching continues, we learn who the main characters are, and more of their own story through well divided scenes and cuts between character focuses.Seoul Searching isn't plot-based in the least, and there isn't a major climax in the movie, just little hills of chaos and emotion every now and then. The focus is on the characters, the people, featured in the film and their own stories. The characters are what make the film; they have interesting characteristics and distinct personalities. Each person plays a specific role; some have emotional benefit (Klaus), others have humorous benefit (Sergio), and the main character, Sid, brings a lot of both. Seoul Searching is simple and straightforward in an enjoyable way; it's a film about people being people, one of the most interesting things to witness.The movie has a certain feeling to it, almost as though you're there. It also has quite a fast pace, there is always something happening, which likely makes viewers pay closer attention, and therefore experience that sensation of witnessing the events in the film first hand. The music adds to that feeling, and sets the mood of that age, with 80s classics in the background. The filmmakers achieved the aura of the 80s very well, although at times some of the language used is crude and might be shocking to some, simply because of the changes that have occurred in society over the years. Seoul Searching, despite the teenage antics, was also quite serious at times, and displayed the struggles of foreign-raised Korean teens. The story of a boy who doesn't understand his father, an adopted girl, a boy dealing with unadjusted parents, a racist army prat, and more. Through the movie, hardships are revealed, and viewers realize that there's more to the initial characters, that there's a reason for the characters' actions and attitude. Overall, Seoul Searching is a good movie, that I feel is underrated by some. It's a fresh teenage comedy that explores into the less than happy parts of life. It's part of growing up, with just a few more completely "unboring" people.

As one born in the same year as Director Benson Lee and having been raised in the west coast of the United States, I fully appreciated the homage to John Hughes films and the BRILLIANT soundtrack. I was positively thrilled/comforted to hear it, especially the Jesus and Mary Chain, Erasure, and that long lost song by Q Lazzarus.I grew up on John Hughes films, but never thought I'd ever see a film that spoke straight to my heart with characters that not only look like me, but were also talking about what it is to be Korean, as an adoptee. The Korean adoptee storyline broke my heart, then put it back again. Rosalina Leigh gave her character the right mix of sadness, surprise, and confusion. And don't get me started about the woman who played her birth mother...I've seen many amazing films made by Korean adoptees (among them, First Person Plural by Deann Borshay Liem) which feature reunions and/or issues with birth mothers. I was a bit concerned about a fictional portrayal of this reunion, but I was pleasantly surprised at how it was handled. The performance between the character Kris and her birth mother left me absolutely gutted. Also, Cha In-Pyo was predictably solid and charismatic. There were extremely clever ways in which Benson Lee portrayed the both the growth and evolution of these characters. There were many true to the 80's references with the various characters portrayed. One may say there were scenes that were a bit over the top, I still think that this film brought key themes to the minds and hearts of the audience. And while applicable and relevant to many Korean-Americans, this film has the power to grab the attention and heartstrings of a global audience. I have no doubt that this film will be cherished both with a domestic and global audience.Well-done, Benson Lee and cast. Thank you especially for including the Korean adoptee story line. You've made my 80's film nostalgia complete and with a kick ass soundtrack, no less.

I just saw the World Premiere of this film tonight, and loved it. The entire audience did a 'wave' for the director before the movie, and stood up for his well-deserved standing ovation at the end. Seoul Searching depicts teens from around the world exploring their relationship to their Korean cultural identity - at a summer camp in Seoul, Korea. (Cue mass quantities of alcohol.) Like any teen film, it explores relationships with parents, peers, and authorities, but what makes this one so enjoyable is that it is so specific and spot-on in illuminating the Korean cultural experience. As a hapa Korean and Italian woman, it's rare that I see a film so dynamic in its representation of complex cultural issues. The movie was hilarious, yet, particularly in one un-subtitled scene, still able to touch the depths of a drama. It explored everything from Korea's held anger towards the Japanese to the DMZ to Korean multiracial adoptees, while challenging and flipping assumptions in funny and clever ways.The director – who admitted an homage to John Hughes – hired mostly 'non-actors' who knew their characters from the inside, which worked. For example, the actor who played Sergio from Mexico was actually a Spanish-speaking Korean man culturally representing himself. This was true too, for the German-speaking Korean man from Hamburg. The cast was beaming – you could tell they loved being in the movie.The only characters that didn't land for me were the 'rapper' guys, and the only assumptions that didn't move enough for me were those about Korean fathers. But there were so many other things that worked – including the solid 80's soundtrack – that it still made my night.