The subject of the Korean War imposes great weight on a story. This film succeeds in maintaining the balance between lyricism and minimalism, between realism and modernity. Revisiting the past, the film raises fundamental questions about the Korean War. Sung-Min and Chang-Hee live in a village deeply dependent on the U.S. Army for its livelihood. Sung-Min′s father works on the base and is well-off, but Chang-Hee is poor and is supported by Sung-Min′s family. The two are part of a group of village boys who get caught peeping on an American solder having sex with a village girl in an old mill. One day, Chang-Hee sees his mother having sex with a G.I. in the mill. The mill is destroyed by a fire and Chang-Hee disappears. The following summer, the decayed body of a young boy is found in a lake near the village, and the children set up a small grave on the hill. "Le Monde" praised this film for its meticulous camerawork and elaborate mise-en-scene. Spring In My Hometown illuminates the Korean War with compassion, yet the use of long takes and long shots, and intervals of time marked by intertitles give critical distance in this film that expresses the pains of a war torn era and the tracks of hidden stories left behind by modern history. (Lee Sang-Yong)