Mountain Woman

Rin is a young woman growing up during a time of famine. There is so little food that her village cannot afford to welcome any newcomers, including newborn children. Her family is one of the last in the village, and their lives thus depend on remaining obedient to those who control the last kernels of grain. Rin’s only consolation comes from an alliance with the gods of the wilderness looking down on this human suffering. The period film’s impressive wide shots of nature truly bring to life and radiate with supernatural forces, thus intertwining the story’s balladic aspects with its more realistic line. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)