20 Best Movies Of 2023

10. Return To Seoul

Return To Seoul, the second feature from director Davy Chou, boasts a simple but affecting premise: Freddie (Ji-Min Park) is a French adoptee who travels to South Korea in search of her biological parents, and in the process finds her worlds - the life she's lived and the life that could have been hers - collide.

Gracefully paced, Chou's personal odyssey into Freddie's questions of identity and home is intimate and melodic, following her as she contends with her worldview and attempts to keep her openly hopeful façade alive. Park's performance is the focus, the story told through her shattering portrayal of longing and brave vulnerability.

Brought to life with gorgeous imagery, Return To Seoul is a character study of resounding power, digging into the life of one woman as she allows us to see every inch of herself, even the parts she wasn't aware of. A guaranteed modern classic, it sets both Chou and Park up for brilliant careers we should all keep a close eye on.