Birthday

2019

2h 0m

Drama

List

86%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

100%

Audience Score

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Returning from eight years abroad at work and in prison, Jeong-il struggles to reconnect with his wife and their young daughter, Ye-sol, whom he barely knows.

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Richard Kuipers

Variety

Private grief and public mourning are examined in "Birthday," a deeply moving drama about a fractured family attempting to get on with life following the death of their son in the 2014 Sewol ferry tragedy.

Oct 24, 2019

Full Review

Elizabeth Kerr

Hollywood Reporter

Birthday is precisely the kind of warts-and-all examination of human nature that defines Lee's career, and is composed entirely of the difficult moments that are often glossed over for more palatable, unchallenging observations.

Apr 18, 2019

Full Review

Anton Bitel

Projected Figures

as director Lee delicately traces the sense of guilt and recrimination in this fracturing household, she is also modulating the grief of a nation still haunted by tragedy, and still finding ways to exorcise its ghosts.

Nov 10, 2019

Full Review

John Tan

The New Paper (Singapore)

Birthday promises to be a tearjerker, but does not live up to it.

Rated: 2.5/5

Aug 14, 2019

Full Review

William Schwartz

HanCinema

Birthday is about coping mechanisms, some destructive, and some pointless, and some counterproductive but others do manage to work.

Jun 23, 2019

Full Review

James Marsh

South China Morning Post

A story about grief, loss and guilt, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness that threatens to consume those touched by death.

Rated: 3.5/5

May 28, 2019

Full Review

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Lee Jongeon

Director

Sul Kyung-gu

Jung-il

Jeon Do-yeon

Soon-nam

Kim Bo-min

Ye-sol

Yoon Chan-Young

Su-ho

Kim Soo-jin

Woo-chan's mom

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Synopsis

Returning from eight years abroad at work and in prison, Jeong-il struggles to reconnect with his wife and their young daughter, Ye-sol, whom he barely knows.

Director: Lee Jongeon
Screenwriter: Lee Jongeon
Production Co: Pinehouse film, Redpeter Films, Nowfilm
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Korean
Runtime: 2h 0m