It’s always a great pleasure to find feature directorial debuts from artists who have established a sense of themselves in their own craft. Such is the case with Stephanie Ahn’s film Bedford Park, a romance set within the Korean American diaspora. Every minute of this film feels wholly lived-in, placing us in the mindsets of its two leads, who feel lost up until they cross paths. That’s an easy setup for any filmmaker to work with in order to create a great love story, but Ahn doesn’t want to go that path so quickly.
Despite being named for a Bronx neighbourhood, Bedford Park is not set in New York, but rather the nearby state of New Jersey. Audrey (Moon Choi) is a Korean-American woman in her thirties. Everything in her life seems to be going down the drain after she gets suspended from her job as a physiotherapist. Eli (Son Suk-ku) is a mall security guard who was adopted by a white woman as a child, leaving him little connection to his Korean background. These two people have almost nothing in common with one another, but eventually meet after Audrey’s mother gets into a car accident with Eli. The first encounters are aggressive, but Audrey continually insists on making amends. From here, the two of them realize that they share similar wounds from childhood traumas, which allows a more meaningful bond to unfold between them.
For writer-director Stephanie Ahn, it’s important to emphasize the animosity that sprouts between Audrey and Eli in their first encounters. They present another version of themselves externally so that they can survive in an unfamiliar world to them, but these masks come off slowly once they start spending more time with each other. Eli is more standoffish, and under heavy financial debt, frequently harassed by his adoptive brother. Meanwhile, Audrey deals with loveless encounters with wealthy men whom her family sets her up with. These struggles with familial pressures feel relatable, as they continue presenting burdens on adult life and happen to both Eli and Audrey.
Through these encounters, Stephanie Ahn finds an easy gateway to building a love story. Eli transforms from being an introverted type to letting Audrey into his life. It’s an easy way in, but it helps bring us to understand where these shared pains come forth. Ahn also flashes back to crucial moments in Audrey’s childhood, in which she experienced physical abuse from her alcoholic father, which drove her brother out of the house. Eli’s upbringing wasn’t any better, given that he didn’t know his birth parents at all. Only in each other’s company do they have someone else who knows what they keep to themselves, given that Ahn presents their shared wounds as a mirror to each other.
Said moments of realization are where Bedford Park is at its strongest, given that they’re also where both Moon Choi and Son Suk-ku are able to turn in incredible work. Neither performer is Korean-American, but perhaps that’s helpful in Ahn’s case, to let their chemistry grow with every moment they spend together. The English dialogue comes naturally to both performers, as if they’d lived in the United States most of their life. All the more impressive considering that Bedford Park is the first American production for the two of them.
Yet with how much time Ahn spends mapping out a romance unfolding in a space where her two leads never felt meant to be, she still stumbles to the end. With how much the first half is spent on intimate moments between Audrey and Eli, the second half of Bedford Park introduces more narrative hangups that smother her viewers in these protagonists’ lingering pain. This might be a deliberate choice on Ahn’s part, as Audrey and Eli feel lost from pursuing the American Dream, but it feels like she’s rushing through information so last minute that it diminishes the emotional impact. Such is the case with that need to explain where the film gets its title, given its setting in New Jersey – for the purpose of creating a cheap tearjerker moment. And with Bedford Park running two hours, it sometimes leaves you feeling exhausted getting to that point.
And still, as a portrait of the diasporic experience from a lower-class perspective, it feels authentic. Stephanie Ahn’s confidence with this debut is really something to behold, and we can sense a great artist coming out of the gate. With how she frames every moment of vulnerability, we feel like we have been living alongside Audrey and Eli for most of their lives. It’s also made more stunning with how Ahn visually evokes something more dreamlike in small moments to anyone outside her leads’ circle. I look forward to Ahn’s next film with great anticipation, as I sense her craft will only grow more from here.
Watch the trailer right here.
All images via Sony Pictures Classics.
Directed by Stephanie Ahn
Screenplay by Stephanie Ahn
Produced by Gary Foster, Chris S. Lee, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Theresa Kang, Son Suk-ku, Russ Krasnoff
Starring Moon Choi, Son Suk-ku, Won Mi-kyung, Kim Eung-soo, Jefferson White
Premiere Date: January 24, 2026 (Sundance)
Running Time: 119 minutes
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