‘Ajoomma’: Busan Review

Dir: He Shuming. Singapore/Korea. 2022. 90m

An ageing Singaporean woman casts off her domestic shackles on a solo trip to South Korea in this warm debut from short filmmaker He Shuming. A charming central performance from Hong Huifang is at the heart of this story, which hits all the familiar coming-of-age narrative beats but centres on a protagonist making new discoveries in the latter part of her life. This may be a theme currently gaining ground in cinema (particularly in the work of Asian filmmakers), but it is still so under-explored as to be refreshing.

A charming central performance from Hong Huifang is at the heart of this story

Having won Most Promising Project at Singapore International Film Festival’s Southeast Asian Film Lab in 2015, Ajoomma makes its premiere at Busan before a late October release in Singapore through Golden Village Pictures. Its light comedy and accessible story could see it travel further afield, where it should strike a chord with diaspora audiences who have responded to other narratives featuring a strong Asian matriarch such as Lucky Grandma, Mother and The Farewell.

Lim Bee-hua (Huifang) — who is, in the Asian tradition, called Auntie by the younger generation, which in South Korea translates to ‘Ajoomma’ — is not perhaps as formidable as some of her cinematic compatriots, and her story will also prove to be rather more gentle. Following the death of her husband, and with her beloved 20-something son desperate to strike out on his own, Auntie Lim lives a small life. Although the film opens on her participating in an outdoor dance class, the film’s familial title is both a mark of respect and an irony, given that she spends a great deal of time home alone. Escapism comes in the form of the lurid South Korean soap opera ‘Secrets Of The Stars’, which she watches religiously.

The soap’s melodramatic plotline, in which the handsome main character (played by hugely popular South Korean film and TV star Yeo Jingoo) is attempting to reconnect with his birth mother, will follow Auntie Lim through the film, in a not-so-subtle parallel with her own journey of reconnection — albeit with herself. This comes through a trip to South Korea, which she uncharacteristically decides to do alone after her son can no longer accompany her; motivated not so much by a sense of adventure, but by the fact that the trip is non-refundable.

As is familiar with such fish-out-of-water narratives, Auntie Lim meets a host of colourful characters, all of whom bring her further out of her comfort zone and make her understand her worth. That some of the film’s comedy comes from miscommunications between characters speaking the different languages of Chinese and South Korean is rather lost in translation to English subtitles, although there’s plenty of visual humour to keep things moving along.

That’s particularly the case when it comes to her interactions with the handsome, hapless tour guide Kwon Woo (Kang Hyung Suk), whose heart isn’t in the job but with trying to win back his wife and daughter by paying off the loan sharks on his tail. (This subplot may smack of dramatic cliche, but does allow for a hugely entertaining highway car chase with Auntie Lim at the wheel). Auntie Lim is, of course, drawn to help him — he reminds her of her son, after all — and she also makes a quieter connection with widower Jung Su (veteran South Korean actor Jung Dong-hwan), a security guard who comes to her rescue when she finds herself stranded.

The chemistry between Auntie Lim and Jung Su is a highlight, the film making the oft-forgotten point that first flushes of attraction are not only for the young, and that life experience doesn’t do much to temper the awkwardness and tentative vulnerability that comes with this territory. And while much of Auntie Lim’s journey may follow a familiar thematic path, its culmination is no less empowering for that.