In Her Place (Korean: 인 허 플레이스) is a 2014 Canadian-South Korean film directed and written by Albert Shin. The film follows a wealthy woman who moves in to the countryside home of a pregnant teenage girl and her mother and waits to adopt the unborn child.

In Her Place
Film poster
Directed byAlbert Shin
Written byAlbert Shin
Pearl Ball-Harding
Produced byAlbert Shin
Igor Drljaca
StarringGil Hae-yeon
Ahn Ji-hye
Yoon Da-gyeong
CinematographyMoon Myeong-hwan
Edited byAlbert Shin
Music byAlexandre Klinke
Production
company
TimeLapse Pictures
Distributed byA71 Productions
Release date
  • September 4, 2014 (2014-09-04) (TIFF)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageKorean

It premiered on September 4, 2014, in the Toronto International Film Festival's Discovery program.[1]

Plot

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Inspired by Korean culture's strong stigma against adoption,[1] the film stars Gil Hae-yeon and Ahn Ji-hye as a mother and daughter living on a farm in South Korea. When the teenage daughter becomes pregnant, a woman (Yoon Da-gyeong) arrives from Seoul to propose a secret adoption, conditional on her staying with them for the duration of the pregnancy so that she can hide the adoption when she returns to Seoul after the baby's birth.

Cast

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Production

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The film was shot entirely in Korea at Shin's family farm.[2] Regarding his inspirations for the film, Shin said:

I had this idea of, "What if I bring together three women? And what if they were of different generations? And what if I told the film from three different perspectives?" And, instead of it being vignettes I made it one linear film and switched the point of view, all contained in one space.[2]

Release

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Critical reception

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On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 80% based on 5 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10.[3]

Variety's Jay Weissberg described the film as "an acutely observed psychodrama from sophomore helmer Albert Shin, powered by three sterling performances."[4] Radheyan Simonpillai in NOW Magazine called it "an expertly plotted drama that packs a paralyzing emotional gut punch."[5] The Toronto Star's Linda Barnard wrote, "Making good use of the mist-shrouded rural South Korea setting to create moody tension, Shin's film builds slowly to a shattering finale that shocks as much as it surprises."[6]

Accolades

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The film was included in the list of Canada's Top Ten feature films of 2014, selected by a panel of filmmakers and industry professionals organized by Toronto International Film Festival.[7] Shin was awarded the Jay Scott Prize at the 2014 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards for the film.[8]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Canadian Screen Awards March 1, 2015 Best Motion Picture Albert Shin, Igor Drljaca, Yoon Hyun Chan Nominated [9]
Best Director Albert Shin Nominated
Best Actress Yoon Da-gyeong Nominated
Best Actress Ahn Ji-hye Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Gil Hae-yeon Nominated
Best Screenplay Albert Shin Nominated
Best Editing Albert Shin Nominated
Wildflower Film Awards April 7, 2016 Best Director (Narrative Films) Albert Shin Nominated [10]
Best Actress Yoon Da-gyeong Nominated
Best Cinematography Moon Myeong-hwan Nominated
Best New Actress Ahn Ji-hye Nominated
Best Supporting Actor/Actress Gil Hae-yeon Won

References

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  1. ^ a b Barnard, Linda (September 6, 2014). "In Her Place: Secrets and lies". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Albert Shin’s ‘reckless abandon’ pays off". The Origami, November 11, 2014.
  3. ^ "In Her Place (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  4. ^ Weissberg, Jay (March 30, 2015). "Film Review: 'In Her Place'". Variety. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  5. ^ Simonpillai, Radheyan (February 11, 2015). "In Her Place". NOW Magazine. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  6. ^ Barnard, Linda (February 12, 2015). "Reel Brief: Mini reviews of In Her Place, The Voices and The Last Five Years". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  7. ^ Barnard, Linda (December 1, 2014). "TIFF's Top Ten Film Festival: Spotlight on Canadian film". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  8. ^ Lacey, Liam (January 6, 2015). "Villeneuve's Enemy wins $100,000 Toronto critics' prize for best Canadian film of 2014". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  9. ^ Mullen, Pat (January 13, 2015). "'Mommy' Leads 2015 Canadian Screen Award Nominations". Cinemablographer. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  10. ^ "3rd Wildflower Film Awards Korea – Nominees 2016". Asian Film Festivals. March 26, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
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