Treeless Mountain is a very interesting, meditative drama. It presents a remarkable contrast to popular South Korean cinema, which is so often a very fast-paced, melodramatic experience.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 6, 2020

This film by director So Yong Kim has, in my opinion, aesthetic qualities that make me reflect on the meaning of family and childhood tragedies, but it lacks emotional flair. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 25, 2020

There is a melancholic innocence at work here, juxtaposed with the tender warmth of Kim's camera, and we are left with the question of whether childhood innocence has survived or ended too early.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 7, 2019

This very personal, naturalistic Korean film is all about emotional damage, and it's a real heartbreaker.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 1, 2015

What makes this slight narrative compelling is that it is told entirely from the children's point of view, synced to their perceptions and to the mercurial emotions that color them.

| Jun 1, 2015

Treeless Mountain, in its crisp simplicity, resembles a good poem, with many layers lurking beneath the organized, metered surface.

| Jun 11, 2014

While this minimalist tale could have been heartbreaking, what's most affecting is not the kids' plight but their pluck.

| Jul 6, 2010

[The film provides] an enveloping, but plausible recreation of a child's perspective -- fascinated by minutiae, sensitive to pain, and unaware of the workings of time.

| Jul 6, 2010

Cinematographer Anne Misawa shoots from a low angle the wonderful, subtly expressive faces of the siblings, the older melancholic, the younger endearingly clownish.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 6, 2010

Drawing out beautifully natural performances from her child actors, Kim once again has a distinct way of letting her camera observe her characters with kind thoughtfulness, allowing for a quiet mood to wash over the scenes.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2010

There is no profound drama here, however, so you might end up resenting the film while it drags from you the emotional responses that the sight of anxious little children inevitably triggers.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 15, 2010

So Yong eschews drama for a quiet sensitivity which suggests the young can get over almost anything adults put upon them simply with native wit and resource.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 8, 2010

Gentle and observational, this slice-of-life from Korea has only the thinnest frame of a plot as it follows two young girls on a dramatic journey. But it's so vague that audiences will find it hard to latch onto.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 8, 2010

Wonderful performances from the two young leads and a gently heart-breaking narrative arc make this a slow winner.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 8, 2010

[The Film] offers a stark analysis of the human potential for random cruelty that recalls nothing less than Bresson's 'Mouchette', albeit with a denouement that holds a glimmer of optimism for the future.

| Jan 8, 2010

A touching, gentle examination of the giddy rush and sickening sense of dislocation that comes with being left on your own when you're young.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 8, 2010

Not an easy watch, but worth sticking with.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 8, 2010

Like breath on the window of a late-night bus, Treeless Mountain is a work of diaphanous and fugitive beauty.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 8, 2010

It's a familiar subject, well handled and performed.

| Jan 8, 2010

A beautiful, meditative and deeply humanistic coming-of-age tale dealing with abandonment, resilience and perseverance in the face of apparent futility.

Full Review | Jan 8, 2010