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House of Hummingbird | 2018 | NR | – 2.4.5
Why is “House of Hummingbird” rated NR? The MPAA has not rated this film. The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of teen kissing scenes and a few teen flirting scenes, an implication of infidelity, many arguments that lead to beatings of a teen girl and the injury of a man, the collapse of a heavily trafficked bridge causing the death of many people, the death of the North Korean President in 1994, a surgical procedure and recovery, and 6 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.
Set in Seoul, Korea in 1994: a teenage girl (Ji-hu Park) struggles to find her way amid pressure to get good grades and find meaningful friendships while enduring an unhappy home life. Also with Sae-byeok Kim, Seung-Yun Lee and In-gi Jeong. Directed by Bora Kim. In Korean with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:18]
House of Hummingbird SEX/NUDITY 2
– A teen boy and a teen girl walk together holding hands, the girl takes the boy to an isolated place and says, “Let’s kiss,” and they kiss a couple of times and they both spit on the floor after.
► A teen girl comes home late one night with a teen boy and they stay in her room with her younger sister; we see him with her in the room a few times. A teen boy and a teen girl lie in a bed together (both are clothed) and the boy caresses the girl’s hair. A man leaves home after practicing dance moves in his living room and it is implied that he is having an affair. Two teen girls kiss each other on the cheeks. A teen boy and a teen girl flirt, and the boy touches the girl’s shoulders as they walk. Two teen girls walk together and hold hands.
► A teen boy and a teen girl sit on a bench and talk together talking. A teen girl tells another teen girl, “We broke up” about her and a teen boy. A teen girl gives another teen girl a rose and later tells her that she likes her. A teen boy flirts with a teen girl and another teen girl (his previous girlfriend) sees them and becomes upset. A teen girl receives a pager message that reads, “Angel, I love you.”
House of Hummingbird VIOLENCE/GORE 4
– A husband yells at his wife and teen daughter and his wife yells back at him while the daughter cries; the two adults shove each other, the woman throws a lamp at the man and when it breaks it cuts his arm (we see blood on his arm and it is shown bandaged later). A teen boy charges into his sister’s room after she is dismissive to him and beats her (we hear sounds of things being knocked around); she tells her parents that he hit her and her parents don’t take her seriously. A man and a woman yell at their teen daughter and the girl yells and throws things around her room; her teen brother yells and says, “Do you want to die,” and then slaps her hard on the side of the head tearing her eardrum. A teen girl comes to a tutoring class wearing a mask and when she takes it off later, we see a bruise on her face (we understand that she was beaten by someone at home). A teen girl tells her mother that she has a lump under her ear and we see a doctor in an examination room doing a needle biopsy; the girl squirms and winces.
► A teen girl is shown in a hospital recovering from surgery with a bandage around her head and an IV attached to her arm and we hear her asking someone, “Where did my lump go?” A doctor tells a teen girl that surgery to remove a lump could leave her without sensation in her face. A teen girl removes a bandage from her face and we see some blood on the bandage as a teen boy says, “That must have hurt”; we are told that she will have a scar but we do not see it.
► Two teen girls are caught shoplifting and when the shop owner calls the father of one of the girls he tells the man to call the police and turn her in (the shop owner is dismayed and sends the girls home). A teen girl is shown kneeling outside her apartment with her hands held over her head as punishment.
► A man yells at the dinner table complaining about a customer at his store and that he told her off. A man yells for his daughter and complains that she didn’t show up for a tutor, not realizing that she is hiding in a closet; he storms out of the house. A man yells at his teen daughter for not studying and tells her, “Go drop dead.” A teen girl yells at another teen girl, shakes her by the shoulders and demands an apology; the other girl storms off. A teacher tells a classroom of students that they should write down the names of anyone in the class that is a “delinquent” (smoking, dating, etc.) and makes them repeat a phrase that they commit to their studies. Two teen girls talk about committing suicide and they each describe being beaten at home and that a bamboo stick and a golf club are used to hit them; they wonder if anyone would feel sorry if they did. A teen girl tells a woman, “He beats me like a dog,” and, “My brother’s going to kill me.” Teen girls tease another teen girl in class and call her names. A teen boy asks his teen sister, “What happens if your face gets stuck,” after a surgical procedure. A woman tells a teen girl, “Don’t let anyone hit you; fight back.” A teen girl yells at a woman for giving her incorrect information about when her tutor quit. We hear that a woman died in a bridge collapse and another woman cries about it. A teen girl tells another teen girl, “Sometimes you only think of yourself.” Two teen girls giggle about a tutor wearing the same clothes every day. A teen girl comes home late and her younger sister asks if she drank, and the second teen says that she thinks she might be in trouble. A teen girl says, “I’m not good at anything.” A woman sings a song with lyrics about “burying chopped fingers,” and getting drunk on “cold Soju.” A teen girl asks a woman, “Are you nice to me because you pity me?” A teen girl asks a woman, “Do you ever hate yourself?” and the woman replies, “Yes, often.” A teen girl tells a teen boy, “I never liked you.” We hear news reports that North Korean President Kim Il-sung died from a cardiac infection.
► A woman approaches a teen boy and a teen girl and speaks to the boy about who the girl is (in an insulting manner), takes him by the hand and leads him away. A family dresses in black and goes to the funeral of a family member. Three teens stand at the banks of a river and look at the wreckage of a bridge after it collapsed. We hear news reports about a bridge collapse and a teen girl calls home panicked that her older sister might have been killed; we see crushed cars in the wreckage on TV news reports. A man comes to the house of his sister’s family late one night and he appears drunk; he is unable to open the door when he is ready to leave. A teen girl rings a doorbell repeatedly, tugs on the door handle and calls out for her mom to answer the door (no one answers); she then realizes that she is at the wrong door and moves one floor up to the right door. A teen girl sees her mother away from home and calls out to her repeatedly but the woman does not reply. A teen girl jumps up and down frustrated.
House of Hummingbird LANGUAGE 5
– About 6 F-words, 2 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (idiots, dumb, housemaids, cheesy, loser, stupid, mad, crazy, delinquents, snooping, bastard, brat, quirky, a little odd, rice cake shop girl, weird, lonely, pervert, little brats, messed up, uncomfortable, freaked out), exclamations (let’s go, stop it, hey, shut-up, don’t worry, hurry, oh my goodness, what in the world). | profanity glossary |
House of Hummingbird SUBSTANCE USE
– A woman asks her teen daughter to apply pain relief patches to her shoulders. A woman tells her brother that he needs to stop drinking after he comes to her house late one night and appears drunk, a teen girl comes home late and her younger sister asks if she drank (she says yes), and a woman sings a song with lyrics about getting drunk on cold Soju. A woman smokes a cigarette in the stairwell of a building, a woman smokes on park steps, and two teen girls smoke outside a building.
House of Hummingbird DISCUSSION TOPICS
– Growing up, love, responsibility, South Korea, North Korea, Seoul, the Seongsu Bridge collapse, shoplifting, divorce, gender roles, death of North Korean President Kim Il-sung, future, loneliness, respect, suicide, disasters.
House of Hummingbird MESSAGE
– Life is unpredictable.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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Sting - 1.7.7
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Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.
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