This is a better review than the linked essay. One of the virtues of social media is being able to hear from people far too intelligent and capable to settle for jobs in journalism. This is a fine example of the gold that occasionally peeks out from the dross of the random drive-bys.
I will also freely admit to an advantage in my comments here, as compared to outside reviewers who are writing for different audiences. I am always mindful of the very vocal "nuke Hollywood from orbit" crowd on FR. One colorful description stuck in my mind, from a freeper who was anathematizing Hollywood as a pack of moral degenerates who were all high on coke and swinging from chandeliers. Hyperbole, yes, but it captures the spirit. I've adopted the phrase. They aren't all high on coke and swinging from chandeliers, but unless people are willing to open their eyes and stop ranting long enough to actually watch a few good contemporary films, it's easy to get carried away with the nonsense.
If someone is simply no longer interested in movies, that's fine. There are other ways to spend the time. But from a culture war standpoint, we should at least be ready to acknowledge people who are doing good work in whatever domain, including fields like cinema which are dominated by the other side.
My testing for recommending a movie here is pretty simple. It can't be woke. It has to be set in a morally coherent universe. It has to tell the truth about serious issues. It can't be a dishonest propaganda film, so even if the filmmakers are liberal or left liberal in orientation, they need to at least give conservative themes, perceptions and themes room to breathe. This is basically a matter of telling an honest story, which means giving both sides their innings. And the film should not be vulgar and aggressively nihilist on the moral and sexual issues. Do that, and I am happy to recommend the film.
I picked the review that I did partly because it linked the trailer. I should also have been mindful of the time honored freeper tradition of not reading the linked article, so I should have posted the trailer separately as well. So here it is for those who didn't click on the link:
At the risk of a small spoiler but for the benefit of people who will never watch the film, note that the trailer shows Nora and Hae Sung, who have not seen each other in 24 years, talking in a bar. They are obviously getting lost in shared memories. The trailer, however, doesn't show us that Nora's husband is sitting there with them. Hae Sung's English isn't very good. He and Nora slip effortlessly into Korean from time to time. She will turn and translate a bit for her husband from time to time. She is not slipping around behind his back. He is sitting there realizing that she had a whole world before immigrating, now gone beyond recall, of which he can never be a part. But Nora is always emphatic that she is committed to her new world and her life with Andrew.