Smoking Tigers

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Smoking Tigers

2024

1h 29m

Drama

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100%

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11 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

Set in Los Angeles in the early 2000s, Smoking Tigers is a portrait of a lonely 16-year-old Korean American girl named Hayoung who is taken under the wings of three wealthy students she meets at an elite academic boot-camp. As she falls deeper into their world, Hayoung works harder to hide her problematic family and lower-income background from her new friends, only to discover the bittersweet pains of adulthood that will forever shape her life.

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Louisa Moore

Screen Zealots

09/02/2024

A family drama and coming-of-age story rolled into one, this is a film that gracefully acknowledges the complexities of relationships and the challenges of growing up with a touching authenticity.

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Amyana Bartley

QBP Reviews

08/27/2024

Using outstanding imagery, this film softly lulls you into its world in a way that I’ve not seen done before.

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Julia Swift

My Champlain Valley

08/23/2024

7/10

This soulful coming of age drama takes a while to grab onto the hearts of the audience, but once it does, it won't let go. The characters will follow you for days.

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Josh Bell

Crooked Marquee

08/20/2024

B+

It's a well-crafted, heartfelt take on a reliable formula.

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Paul Lê

Tales from the Paulside

07/23/2023

3/5

Even when the film seems like it doesn’t accomplish anything right now, it delivers a considerable character study that will benefit a lot of viewers in the long term.

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Siddhant Adlakha

JoySauce.com

07/03/2023

A tale that’s as gentle as it is harrowing, and one that debuting writer-director So Young Shelly Yo tells with quiet, poetic grace.

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John S

May 27

I loved this movie. It is a quiet, introspective look at a high school girl's troubles with family and school, and life. It's coming-of-age done right. The movie is subtle, not the typical over-the-top, over-produced Hollywood fare. So refreshing. The main character, Hayoung, is very likable and relatable. I would like to see more movies like this. It's a rarity.

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Orange 5

09/19/2024

Alright, I watched this on HBO Max, (which may be the culprit behind my beef with this movie). It is claimed that this film is in "English". Yet over 60% of the dialogue, is in Korean! There are no English subtitles. Especially when we see these deep conversations, between Hayoung and her dad, between Hayoung and her mom, etc. Clearly, there was struggle and trauma happening within this family, yet I was "left in the dark", not able to understand the conversations. As an American viewer, I sat through the whole thing. Very frustrating, I wanted to know what was going on! Would liked to have given this movie a better rating. Really, the only thing I could comprehend was body language, faces, and the English dialogue between Hayoung and the other English-speaking, rich kids at the school. Therefore, from what I have seen, this movie is only geared for Korean-Americans, who are fluent in both languages. Everyone else, you will be very frustrated trying to watch this movie.

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So Young Shelly Yo

Director

Ji-young Yoo

Hayoung

Jun-ho Jeong

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Jung Joon-ho

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Synopsis

Set in Los Angeles in the early 2000s, Smoking Tigers is a portrait of a lonely 16-year-old Korean American girl named Hayoung who is taken under the wings of three wealthy students she meets at an elite academic boot-camp. As she falls deeper into their world, Hayoung works harder to hide her problematic family and lower-income background from her new friends, only to discover the bittersweet pains of adulthood that will forever shape her life.

Director: So Young Shelly Yo
Producer: Guo Guo
Screenwriter: So Young Shelly Yo
Distributor: Untold Stories
Production Co: Sessions Production Payroll
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 16, 2024, Limited
Runtime: 1h 29m

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