''Love Child'' is a 2014 South Korean-American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Valerie Veatch. Veatch produced the film with David Foox. The film premiered in-competition in the ''World Cinema Documentary Competition'' at

2014 Sundance Film Festival The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance Resort in Utah. The festival opened with ''Whiplash'' directed by Da ...

on January 17, 2014. The film was theatrically released by

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

on June 18, 2014.

Synopsis

The film narrates the story of a South Korean couple, who were immersed in an online game called ''

Prius Online ''Prius Online'', also known by its retitled name ''Arcane Saga Online'', is a Free-to-play 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) which revolves around a three character (3C) playing system. The 3C system consists of ...

'', while their baby named Sarang died of malnutrition.

Reception

''Love Child'' received mixed to positive reviews upon its premiere at the

. Christie Ko in his review for ''ScreenCrave'' gave the film 6/10 and said that "This documentary is not an exhaustive look at the addiction to gaming, but does a good job of explaining this incident of the couple and their baby in South Korea. It is thorough in its treatment of their story. But it scratched the surface of broader implications that left me with many questions." While, Daniel Fienberg of ''

HitFix HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...

'' said in his review that ''Love Child'' never attempts to cheapen the tragedy of Sarang's death, but like "

Web Junkie ''Web Junkie'' is a 2013 American-Israeli documentary film co-written, directed and produced by Hilla Medalia and Shosh Shlam. The film premiered at the 2013 Jerusalem Film Festival on July 10, 2013. The film also premiered in-competition in the W ...

," it wants to lay out a pattern of behavior that might seem a little extreme, but also won't feel that outlandish to anybody who counts the Internet among the spaces in which they feel most social."

References

External links

Official website
* 2014 films 2014 documentary films American documentary films South Korean documentary films HBO documentary films Documentary films about child abuse 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s South Korean films English-language South Korean films English-language documentary films {{SouthKorea-film-stub