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Ode to My Father

Play trailer Poster for Ode to My Father Released Jan 9, 2015 2h 6m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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75% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 87% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Duk-soo lost his father and younger sister while taking refuge during the Korean War. He leaves for Germany to work as a miner and enters the Vietnam War. He wishes to find his sister.

Critics Reviews

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Michael Rechtshaffen Los Angeles Times Tugging shamelessly yet persuasively on the heartstrings, "Ode to My Father" is an epic South Korean melodrama capturing more than half a century of recent history through the eyes of an everyman shopkeeper. Jan 8, 2015 Full Review Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times "Ode to My Father" may have slain them in South Korea, but its packaged pain and bullet-point structure are likely to leave Western audiences cold. Jan 8, 2015 Full Review Randy Cordova Arizona Republic Everything is lathered with a syrupy, string-laden musical score designed to gnaw at a viewer's tear ducts. It's about as subtle as having an off-screen narrator yell "Start crying!" before big scenes, and probably as effective. Rated: 2.5/5 Jan 8, 2015 Full Review Jae-Ha Kim Jae-Ha Kim (Substack) During the Korean War, Deok-Su loses his baby sister and their father never returns home. These losses will haunt him for the rest of his life, as he tries to fulfill his promise to his father that he would take care of their family. Rated: 3/4 Jul 26, 2023 Full Review Tan Kee Yun The New Paper (Singapore) Hwang is excellent in his portrayal of the selfless everyday man. Lost alumnus Kim Yun Jin, who plays Deok Soo's wife, is amazing too. Rated: 5/5 Sep 20, 2017 Full Review Joe Bendel Epoch Times It's too bad the treatment of Capt. LaRue will likely put off those who are familiar with him as a historical figure, because the work of Hwang and Oh give Ode real heart. Rated: 3/5 May 30, 2016 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member As someone living out the consequences and reverberations of Korean history, both the effects the people, split into two nations, have created and the effects the world left upon the Korean people, I found "Ode to My Father" simply touching. Its Forrest Gump-like, heartstring-pulling tour of modern South Korean history was deeply moving as I drew the dots between the characters the stellar cast portrayed and my own family and came to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the journey of the Korean people. Speaking of Forrest Gump, in a style reminiscent but not quite as memorable or, well, good, as that film, "Ode to My Father" makes several historical/cultural references that, while possibly being impactful and humorous for an older, more, uhh, Korean audience, I found these attempts at humor and historicity overly cheesy and unnecessary. Still, this made little detraction overall, and I was in tears several times throughout the film. 8/10 bring tissues Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member The best Korean movie. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Good movie. Expresses Korean values beautifully. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Too much things in a 2 hours movie. A bit scattered stories, everywhere. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member South Korea's answer to Forrest Gump- less flashy, but more humanist, anti-war and even more sentimental (not surprising as it's from Korea), spanning six decades of turbulent history. Excellent production values and performances, and one of the those rare films which are both critical darlings and commercially successful. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Very well done movie. Expresses Korean values beautifully. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis Duk-soo lost his father and younger sister while taking refuge during the Korean War. He leaves for Germany to work as a miner and enters the Vietnam War. He wishes to find his sister.
Director
Yoon Je-kyoon
Producer
Lee Sang-jik, Kim Yang-yeon
Screenwriter
Park Su-jin
Distributor
CJ Entertainment
Production Co
JK Film
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Korean
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 9, 2015, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA)
$2.3M
Runtime
2h 6m