Movie Digest
Doo Yeong, the family’s eldest son, intends to join the police force this time. However, after moving to Seoul from the province, going to a cram school with his younger brother Doo Yeop is not easy. It’s made even more difficult by his romance with Ji Yeong. Doo Yeong meets a lot of people and has a lot of worries in Seoul as he strives for success and love.
The Feel-Good Part
The struggle is real. That is the first thing you think when you look at Doo Yeong. His character is just so relatable. Sometimes no matter how hard you work, you still are unable to move away from your shortcomings. These aspects of the characters’ lives make them so real to you as an audience. You feel for Doo Yeop and all the people in his life. You get annoyed when something irritating happens on screen. You blush in his scenes with Ji Yeong. You cry in his scenes with his family. Growing up is hard and life never gets easy. All of these emotions and themes are portrayed very well in this film. The cinematography is very raw and the scenes have been shot very artistically. There are several scenes like the opening one where you can see a pathway with weeds on both sides, which are all very deep and meaningful. These scenes set the emotion for the next one, which I felt was very beautiful.
The Disappointing Factor
The most frustrating part about the movie is how there is no clear solution. This movie is not on a linear path, where there is a problem and the end of the movie shows the resolution of that problem. This movie picks up real issues, stuff that people fail to solve till the end. This becomes very frustrating to watch because you know how it feels to go through that in your own lives. So, when you see the same from a third-person point of view, it is bound to aggravate you more. Although, I wouldn’t necessarily make this a negative for the movie since it is more about the context rather than a failure on the film creators’ part.
In-Depth Analysis
“Little Bird” is just a little over an hour but the pacing gets a little dull in between. Doo Yeop is constantly moving back and forth with no resolution in sight. As you grow up, your life sort of branches out – you have your friends, you have your family, you have your work life, you have your love life, and so on, so forth. In Doo Yeop’s case, all of these branches are constantly getting tangled with each other and he is unable to separate them from his own individual issues. The plot progresses steadily yet we do not see the climax coming and the movie ends on a rather subjective note. It frustrates you, but you still go in for more.
Star Power
Lee Ki Hyuk, a model, theatre actor, live-action actor, and aspiring filmmaker, plays the role of Doo Yeop. He has previously appeared in films such as ‘The Unwelcome Guest,’ ‘A Better Tomorrow,’ and ‘Temptation of Wolves,’ among others. He plays his character quite naturally which I think is a rare quality to find in movies. He seems like your ordinary guy with normal, everyday problems. He is not the knight-in-shining-armor or some other suave character who swoops in and saves the day. His character is as clueless as us, his character has breakdowns just like us and his character feels as average as us. This quality of Lee Ki Hyuk’s carried the movie forward.
Overall Opinion
Little Bird is not your everyday movie. It is something you need to watch with a clear headspace. You need to watch it without anything else cluttering your attention. It is frustrating but it is relatable. Little Bird is a good movie, even if it is not exceptional it will still leave a mark on you.
