An ode to youth and a hymn to nature. Bab Mook Ja is a Korean short film that stimulates the senses and awakens in us precious memories of childhood. This animated film directed by Sung Min Sung Ah highlights a little boy’s enthrallment with nature and the bountiful marvels it nurtures: rural landscapes, tiny inhabitants with countless feet and no end of wonders that we know little or nothing about. Nature spawns curiosity thanks to its beauty and diversity, as shown by this lovely film. As we witness the amazement and innocence of the little boy we drift instinctively and happily back to your own childhoods and ponder nostalgically the miraculous everyday joys all around us and which we sometimes tend to forget as time goes by. The artwork in Bab Mook Ja is, simply put, like a poetic painting of life.
With his refreshing outlook, candour and enthusiasm, the main character is a fond reminder of the adorable Setsuko in Grave of the FIreflies. The film’s opening, based around the pursuit of the dragonfly, can be compared to the unforgettable scene with the fireflies in the feature film by director Isao Takahata. Both works are informed by a poignant fragility, and they blossom as nature reveals its splendour.
Bab Mook Ja is also a touching family portrait. The second half of the film is devoted primarily to the relationship between the boy and his grandmother; with tenderness we see the gap that exists between these two generations: on one side there is the time of innocence, on the other the age of wisdom. With its relaxing background melody and the story full of purity, this film invites us to reflect on the cycle of life.
