Logline: An ambitious Asian adopted mother attempts to balance her rising pre-pregnancy theatre career and raising a toddler. However, she continuously compares his youth to hers, which invites eager ghosts that torment her.
Riss Goodwin is mother, wife, and a reinvented actress who resumes her dreams to get to Hollywood and become a famous actress. She is therefore excited to audition for Medea the Musical in Chinatown, an avant garde iteration with music. However with in-laws coming in five hours with a two hour audition process, counting traffic, she is severely pressed for time.
As she jumps into her work she hears “the wheels on the bus go round and round” and her world alters and she grows younger and younger. In this undesired memory, Riss becomes the child version of herself, Rachel. Rachel and her brother Sang Duk were paid off to be owned by an orphanage. The children screamed for their father and the musicality of the screams push Riss back to reality she is surreal. Her eyes land on on the “wheels on the bus.” Riss fiercely turns the program off. She knows she must stay on task.
She looks around the house and grows sick by the mess a toddler can create. But with love for both her husband and son, she does her best to tidy up. Once she enters into Hosu’s (meaning lake in Korean) playroom, she grows envious by the abundance of his toys, books, and play items. She locates a book given to her at her baby shower, titled: BiBimBop – a Korean rice dish and takes a moment to read. She wants to wean away her ghosts.
However as she moves through the pages, she is jerked inside another memory. This time a ghastly series of events leave her naked with black and blue eyes. She is crying and in severe pain. Riss remembers this moment vividly. A friendly outcast brings Rachel clothes and carries her out.
We see Rachel shortly afterwards, staring in a mirror looking at herself in a ripped, tattered and stained yellow dress. She utters yellow dress, growing happier with each utterance. She smiles. Rachel sees herself for the very first time.
Directed by Kristen Johnson (USA)