A Brand New Life (Hangul: 여행자; RR: Yeohaengja; MR: Yŏhaengja) is a 2009 film. The film is the debut feature of the director Ounie Lecomte, who directed and wrote this film.
Loosely based on Lecomte's own life experience, A Brand New Life is set in Seoul in 1975, and is about a girl who is left in an all-girls Catholic orphanage by her father, and her struggle to adjust to her new lot in life.
A Brand New Life was released in South Korea on October 29, 2009. The film grossed over US$167,776, and was well received by critics. It won several awards such as the Best Asian Film Award at the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival and the jury award at the 2009 Cinekid Festival in Amsterdam.
Synopsis
Jin-hee (Kim Sae-ron) is a 9-year-old girl whose father leaves her at an orphanage after remarrying. Before leaving her at the orphanage, her father buys her new clothes and a cake to convince her that she is going on a trip. (This coincides with the Korean title, which literally means "traveler" or "tourist") In the orphanage she tries to come to grips with the abandonment by her parents and insecurities about a possible adoption. She gradually makes friendships, although she retains the belief throughout most of the movie that her father will return to take her back, and struggles (sometimes violently) not to adjust to her surroundings. In the end, Jin-hee is adopted by French parents who are eagerly waiting for her at an airport to meet their new child.
There are 58 films with the same actors, 1 films with the same director, 61675 with the same cinematographic genres, 2138 films with the same themes (including 74 films with the same 2 themes than A Brand New Life), to have finally 70 suggestions of similar films.
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, 2h2 Directed byBoris Lojkine, Lee Joon-ik OriginCoree du sud GenresDrama ThemesFilms about children, Films about sexuality, Films about pedophilia ActorsSol Kyung-gu, Uhm Ji-won, Lee Re, Kim Hae-sook, Kim Sang-ho, Ra Mi-ran Rating81% On her way to school, a young girl named So-won (which literally means "wish" or "hope" in Korean) gets sexually assaulted by a drunk older male stranger. As a result, she suffers multiple internal injuries and has to undergo a major surgery, but her emotional wounds are equally difficult to heal. Their happy family shattered, her parents Dong-hoon and Mi-hee go through feelings of pain and rage. From the trauma of that day, So-won refuses to see or talk to her father, so Dong-hoon hides beneath the costume of his daughter's favorite cartoon character and becomes a "guardian angel" at her side. Thanks to the love of those around her, So-won's condition gradually improves. At the sight of So-won slowly finding stability and laughter, her family also begins to change and enters a new phase in their lives, trying to find hope in the midst of their sorrow and despair.
, 1h59 Directed byGeorge Stevens OriginUSA GenresDrama, Melodrama, Romance ThemesFilms about adoption, Films about children, Films about families, Seafaring films, Transport films ActorsIrene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi, Edgar Buchanan, Ann Doran, Leonard Willey Rating69% Applejack Carney pulls from a shelf an album of records entitled "The Story of a Happy Marriage" and places the song "You Were Meant for Me" on the Victrola. Julie Adams, Applejack's old friend and owner of the album, asks him to turn off the tune and announces that she is leaving her husband Roger. After glancing at the nursery, Julie restarts the song and remembers meeting Roger years earlier: The same ballad is playing over the loudspeakers at the San Francisco music store where Julie works. When the record begins to skip, passerby Roger Adams enters the store and meets Julie. The two begin to date, and while at the beach one day, Julie breaks open a fortune cookie, which reads "you will get your wish --a baby." Roger, a confirmed bachelor who has no patience with children, hides his fortune, which predicts a "wedding soon," and replaces it with "you will always be a bachelor." Roger, a reporter, changes his mind, however, when he bursts into a New Year's Eve party with the news that his paper is assigning him to a post in Japan and asks Julie to marry him that evening. Knowing that they will not see each other for three months until Roger can earn enough money for Julie's passage to Japan, the newlyweds kiss goodbye in Roger's train compartment. As they embrace, the train pulls out, and as a result, Julie stays in Roger's compartment until the train stops the next morning. Three months later, when Julie is reunited with Roger in Japan, she reports that she is pregnant. Julie becomes concerned for the future of her family when she learns that Roger has lavishly furnished their house by spending advances on his salary. Later, when Roger inherits a small sum of money and announces that he has quit his job so that they can travel the world, Julie, disturbed by her husband's financial irresponsibility, goes upstairs to pack. At that moment, a violent earthquake strikes, demolishing the house and causing Julie to lose the baby. Roger and Julie return to San Francisco, and while hospitalized there, Julie learns that she will never be able to have children. Roger tries to console her by telling her that he wants to settle down and buy a small town paper, but Julie responds that a baby is all she ever wanted. Soon after, Roger buys the Rosalia Courier Press , and the couple moves into the apartment above the newspaper office, which is equipped with a small nursery. Roger hires their friend Applejack to manage the paper, but despite their hard work, circulation remains low. Two years later, while Roger is working late one night, Applejack encourages Julie to adopt a child, and when Roger returns home, Applejack prods him into agreeing to consider adoption. When Julie writes to the orphanage to request a two-year-old boy with curly hair and blue eyes, Mrs. Oliver, the administrator, interviews the prospective parents and later pays a surprise visit to their home. At first disapproving because the Adams house is a cluttered mess, Mrs. Oliver is charmed by the little nursery and tells Julie that a five-week-old baby girl is available for adoption. When Julie and Roger protest that they wanted a two-year-old boy, the age their own baby would have been, Mrs. Oliver assures them that this is the child for them. Roger and Julie consent to see the infant, and when Julie falls in love with the baby, Mrs. Oliver allows them to take her home for a one-year probation period. One year later, as the time for the adoption hearing approaches, Mrs. Oliver visits the family to update her records. When Julie admits that the paper has gone out of business and that Roger has no income, Mrs. Oliver solemnly caps her pen. Steeling themselves to return their baby, whom they have named Trina, to the orphanage, Roger bundles up the infant and proceeds to the judge's chambers. When the judge denies the adoption, Roger, near tears, begs to keep the little girl, pleading that she is like his own child. Moved by Roger's plea, the judge relents and grants the adoption, prompting Julie cheerily to proclaim that nothing can take Trina from them now. Years pass, and Trina's proud parents watch their daughter sing the echo to "Silent Night" in her school's Christmas play. When Trina slips on a platform while onstage, she worries that she will not be allowed to play an angel in the play the following year. The next Christmas, Mrs. Oliver receives a tragic letter from Julie, notifying her of Trina's death after a sudden, brief illness. Julie confides that Roger is punishing himself for Trina's fate and behaves like a stranger to her. At the Adams home, as Julie and Roger sit wordlessly in their living room, they hear a knock at the door. Julie answers it and finds a mother, frantic because her car is stalled and her son is due to perform in the school play. Julie and Roger offer to drive the mother and child to the play, and when the car arrives to the sound of children singing "Silent Night," Roger gets out and proclaims that he never again wants to see anybody or anything that reminds him of Trina. Julie's thoughts return to the present, and she takes the record off the turntable just as Applejack climbs the stairs to deliver her train ticket. At that moment, Roger returns, despondent, but as he picks up Julie's suitcase to drive her to the train station, the phone rings. It is Mrs. Oliver, calling to offer the couple a two-year-old boy, who is the image of the youngster they requested years earlier. Their faith and hope restored, Julie and Roger begin planning a new life with their son.
, 1h40 Directed byOunie Lecomte OriginFrance GenresDrama ActorsCéline Sallette, Anne Benoît, Françoise Lebrun, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Pascal Elso, Micha Lescot Rating63% Élisa, une jeune kinésithérapeute, vient de se séparer de son conjoint Alex et part s'installer à Dunkerque. En effet, elle engage des recherches sur son passé qui l'obsède, car elle fut un bébé né sous X dans cette ville puis une enfant adoptée. Elle tente de retrouver sa mère biologique, mais les services sociaux ne lui facilitent pas l'information car celle-ci ne veut pas dévoiler son identité. Son fils de 10 ans, Noé, subit la mauvaise influence de quelques camarades et devient agressif avec sa mère ainsi qu'à l'école. Annette Lefèvre, une dame d'entretien de l'école de Noé, cinquantenaire célibataire modeste et réservée, observe le comportement de cet enfant et subit l'irrespect des écoliers qui la surnomment « Pitbull ». À la suite d'une chute à cause de ses chiens, elle se rend chez Élisa la kinésitérapeute, qui la masse avec beaucoup de délicatesse. Annette, touchée par l'humanité d'Élisa, essaye d'engager des liens avec elle. Élisa finit par connaître la vérité, mais découvre une histoire difficile à accepter.
, 2h15 Directed byMike Leigh OriginUnited-kingdom GenresDrama, Comedy ThemesFilms about adoption, Films about children, Films about families ActorsTimothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Claire Rushbrook, Liz Smith Rating79% The film tells the story of Hortense Cumberbatch, a successful black middle class optometrist in London, who is adopted and has chosen to trace her family history after the death of her adoptive mother. After being warned by public officials about the troubles she could face by tracking her birth mother down, she continues her investigation and is baffled to learn that her birth mother is white but does not resent her and wants to know more about her past. Her birth mother, Cynthia Purley, is working class and downwardly mobile. Hortense meets her and later meets Cynthia's brother, Maurice Purley, a photographer, his wife Monica, and Cynthia's daughter Roxanne, a street cleaner.
, 1h21 Directed byAktan Arym Kubat GenresDrama ThemesFilms about adoption, Films about children Rating68% The movie starts with an adoption ceremony presided over by five old women (Beshkempir literally means "five grandmothers"), in a village in Kyrgyzstan. The movie then flashes forward a decade or so to show the coming of age of the adopted child - Beshkempir. He is shown indulging in childhood pranks and activities with friends in a rural setting, like stealing honey from beehives and going to watch screened Hindi movies. However, approaching adolescence leads the boys to spy on a village woman's breasts, make clay models of the female form and pretend to make love and eye girls. Beshkempir is even shown as the message carrier between an older boy and his girlfriend.