Passing Through (1998)

Fresh out of college, Adolfson - a Korean adoptee who grew up in Coon Rapids, Minnesota - decides to return to his land of birth for fun and new experiences. After spending six months at Yonsei University living among drunk foreign exchange students, he relocates to a boarding house, determined to get a better sense of what life outside the dormitories is like. What he finds ranges from the painful to the provocative. He briefly participates in a student demonstration, resulting in his choking on tear gas. He is compelled to volunteer for an orphanage and muses over his own barely remembered childhood. Events culminate when Adolfson is reunited on Korean national television with his three long-lost siblings. An absorbing account of how cultural barriers can stimulate rather than hinder personal growth, PASSING THROUGH offers a unique look at a young man's coming of age.