Bedford Park Review
Cast: Moon Choi, Son Sukku, Won Mi Kyung, Kim Eung Soo, Jefferson White
Director: Stephanie Ahn
Star Rating: ★★★.5
Love is worth the fight. Despite constant pressure from family, the need to prove one’s worth, and the harsh socio-political realities of survival. love is the answer. Stephanie Ahn’s wonderful new film, Bedford Park, playing at the Sundance Film Festival, understands this.
Base
Here, we meet Audrey (Moon Choi), but initially there’s nothing wrong with her, except a profound disorientation at how her life has turned out. She’s a Korean-American physical therapist who uses the app for rough sex, even though it threatens her ability to have children. By a chance accident he meets Eli (Beta Sukku), who has been hardened by his circumstances. He is a local security guard who is finishing school.
Their encounter begins on a hilarious note, but ends tragically as Audrey suffers a miscarriage right outside her New Jersey apartment and he rushes her to the hospital. She hasn’t told her parents about it or the fact that she has been suspended from the clinic for three weeks. Audrey offers to help him by driving him to work every day in return for the favor. What starts out as just another conversation turns into something much deeper.
what works
Stephanie Ahn has crafted this love story with a keen eye for detail and authenticity. Both Audrey and Eli share that instant connection because they deeply understand what it means to be misunderstood. The feeling of disorientation that comes from not being able to find connections away from one’s home. This affects not only the way we communicate but also who we choose to run away from. Audrey and Eli, as well as her parents (played by the wonderful Won Mi Kyung and Kim Eung Soo), are brilliantly crafted to reflect that passivity. Ahn’s image-making here is revelatory in how it presents America as a condition that washes over its heroes in an unwavering gaze.
However, Bedford Rock sometimes shifts under its own weight. Ego introduces too many subplots and supporting characters, which accumulate and essentially sap the film’s central strength, which is the moments shared by Audrey and Ellie. The latter also becomes a little more sanitized and predictable, deliberately smoothing out the messiness that made the film so thrillingly authentic.
Bedford Park breathes and expands when two lost souls capture the frame. To play the role of Eli, Beta Sukku slows down and gives quite controlled turns. That particular scene where he hides his face to sob is indelible. He’s beautifully matched by Moon Choi’s brilliant performance as Audrey, whose grief and anger are entirely her own. When she finally starts smiling as Eli teaches her wrestling moves on the couch, the whole frame lights up. Suddenly hope has arisen. You inspire both of them to take a step forward, to think about how they can improve their lives together. It’s always worth the struggle.