Approved for Adoption | Telescope Film
Approved for Adoption

Approved for Adoption (Couleur de peau : Miel)

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  • France,
  • Belgium,
  • South Korea,
  • Switzerland
  • 2012
  • · 70m

Director Jung
Cast William Coryn, Christelle Cornil, Jean-Luc Couchard, Arthur Dubois, David Macaluso
Genre Documentary, Animation, Family

This remarkable animated documentary traces the unconventional upbringing of the filmmaker Jung Henin, one of thousands of Korean children adopted by Western families after the end of the Korean War. It is the story of a boy stranded between two cultures. Animated vignettes – some humorous and some poetic – track Jung from the day he first meet his new blond siblings, through elementary school, and into his teenage years, when his emerging sense of identity begins to create fissures at home and ignite the latent biases of his adoptive parents.

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What are critics saying?

80

Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern

Visualizations are Mr. Jung's province, and they're what make his movie so deeply moving, as well as literally illuminating.

80

Los Angeles Times by Sheri Linden

A vibrant example of hybrid nonfiction filmmaking, using hand-drawn animation, live action, home movies and newsreels in a rich synthesis of personal and historical memory.

70

The New York Times by Nicolas Rapold

The movie is not always well unified and sequenced, but that seems to reflect Mr. Henin’s ambivalence over a past that’s like a book he is at once rereading and rewriting.

70

Village Voice by Daphne Howland

Watching the animated memoir Approved for Adoption can stir a serenity like skipping stones on water for a delightfully long time.

70

Variety by Jay Weissberg

It’s impossible not to be charmed on some level by Jung Henin and Laurent Boileau’s Approved for Adoption, though it’s best not to ask for too much.

70

The Hollywood Reporter by Neil Young

Crucially, Jung and Boileau manage to convey the bonds of affection and love that hold this unusual family together, in a manner that will ring a moving chord with many who have experienced similar circumstances.