Sonny Lee (Jae-Hyun Kim) newly arrived Korean to British Columbia is hired by hunter and farmer Scott Larson to eradicate packs of feral dogs in the neighboring woods. They snarl, howl and growl as a menacing, omnipresent and quasi surreal force. His daughter Hana (Sein Jin) and adolescent son Hajoon (Da-Nu Nan) have emigrated with him. Where is their mother? One hears Sonny seemingly makes several calls to her but one is not certain it is his wife he is conversing with. Neither are her whereabouts revealed other than a supposition she remains in Korea. Hana dreams of her mother and occasionally her mother speaks to her from afar as in a dream.
Sonny, the archetype macho man, is enveloped with anger and hostility much of it directed abusively towards Hajoon a confused adolescent hesitantly and with success fitting in with his peers to the dismay of Sonny who distrusts his hosts and employers. Tortured by demons he kills King Kong, the Larson’s dog, to set it free with the hope this will end his misery.
The Larson’s make every attempt to welcome the immigrant family but Sonny refuses any genuine attempt to integrate into his new surroundings unlike Hana and Hajoon. Laura, Scott’s wife, makes many attempts to welcome Hana treating her much like a daughter she wished she had. Dressed in traditional Korean garb Laura applies fingernail polish and is about to colour Hana’s hair blonde perhaps in unthinking attempt to totally assimilate her into Canadian culture but Hana flees into the woods and leads, in Pied Piper fashion, feral dogs behind her while playing a flute. The film explodes into a tumultuous and heart wrenching conclusion and her mother is finally where she should be although it is unclear if Hana comprehends what Sonny and Hajoon have been concealing.
Top rate cinematography dark and gloomy to suit the mood of the Lee family and the surrealistic evil of the mongrels and light filled in moments of fantasy and hope. Could it be that Sonny has been so distant and outside the human pack he is a mongrel and the truth permits him to join humanity once again?
Directed and written by Jerome Yoo. “Mongrels” enjoys its hometown debut in Vancouver on 14February2025 followed by a Canadian theatrical release in May.
RKS 2025 Canadian Film Rating 82/100.
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