Prepare to be inspired, kinda. Yeah, mostly. Prepare to have your mind blown by this story of courage, tenacity, and mediocre outcomes. It’s still a story worth telling. For the most part.
Meet Ji-Hun Ho. He grew up under a tyrannical North Korean regime. Striving, nay fighting for his freedom every single day while watching loved ones and neighbors suffer. He’s seen more than we could ever comprehend and after his treacherous journey to escape fascism he’s got a story to tell.
Unfortunately, it’s super cliche and kind of pretentious.
Ji-Hun is currently living in California working on his one man show featuring his own music, visual arts, and theatrical storytelling all rolled into one. He describes it as a “feast for all senses” that truly engages the audience. Which is inspiring, I guess. But, like, we feel that’s been done before.
Seriously, it’s truly mediocre. We can forgive a meandering story, self-indulgent post-mordernism, and out of time music, but we can’t forgive what a waste this is. This could have been so much better. We bet North Korea will forgive Kim Jong-un before we’ll forgive such ham-fisted use of symbolism (we get it, the empty bowls represent starvation. You don’t have to include it in the dialogue).
Seriously go see it. Yeah it’s not good but, like, we don’t want him to end up starving again. Just don’t have high expectations. He’s been through a lot, you can go through this.