Sundance Film Review: ‘Bedford Park’ captures the feelings of real and ordinary lives
Watching “Bedford Park” felt less like viewing a film and more like stepping into the real lives of the characters on screen. Writer and director Stephanie Ahn made a striking debut with her first feature-length film, winning the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
“Bedford Park” follows Audrey — played by actress Moon Choi — a physical therapist and daughter of Korean immigrants, who returns to her parents’ home after her mother is injured in a car accident. She meets the man responsible for the accident, and as their relationship progresses, she unexpectedly falls in love with him.
That man is Eli, played by Son Suk-ku, who is in hiding in New Jersey after being talked into a series of questionable deals with his stepbrother. Working as a security guard and attending community college, Eli is left without a car following the accident involving Audrey’s mother, setting the circumstances that put the two characters together.
One reason I connected with “Bedford Park” is its emotional honesty and realism. Audrey and Eli face separate struggles, but over time, they begin to navigate them together. The film presents love as something deeply human: intimate, vulnerable and often painful.
Additionally, this film offered a nuanced look into what it might be like to move to America from another country and attempt to build a life. Each character — Audrey, her mother, her father and Eli — face challenges shaped by displacement, language and cultural expectations. One line that stood out to me took place when Eli and Audrey were eating dinner together, Audrey with chopsticks and Eli with a fork, when Eli said, “I know how to use chopsticks. I just like the fork better.”
Together, each of these perspectives create a portrait of immigration that feels intimate and emphasizes how displacement shapes choices and relationships. It offers me — a white woman who has never lived anywhere but Utah — the chance to empathize with things someone who immigrated to America might be going through. I think this experience and empathy is something especially important in the U.S. climate today.
My favorite part of the movie — spoilers — is when Audrey and Eli find out this meeting isn’t their first. When both of them were young, they lived in the Chicago suburb of Bedford Park in high-rise apartments looking into one another. Audrey was often looking into Eli’s room, and we see when she tries to throw him some pieces of tinfoil-wrapped sushi in an attempt to help him. Although this part of the movie is explained after Eli has moved away and Audrey miraculously finds out she’s pregnant with his child, the connection to the past is a beautiful reminder of their shared experience and the sense of belonging they provide for one another.
Ultimately, “Bedford Park” is successful because of its attention to the small, deeply human moments that shape everyday connection. Ahn’s debut trusts the audience to sit with discomfort, allowing the meaning of the film to emerge naturally. Like its characters, the film does not move towards resolution, instead offering a story rooted in memory, empathy and shared experience.