Best of 2009 (Part 5 of 10)

6) “Treeless Mountain” (Oscilloscope Pictures, dir. So Yong Kim)
There was not a more touching story this year than “Treeless Mountain,” which follows two young sisters from South Korea (Hee-yeon Kim and Song-hee Kim) as they navigate the scattered shards of their broken family. After a harrowing stint with their drunken auntie, they eventually find solace at their grandparents’ house in the country. But as industrialization creeps along the borders, director So Yong Kim shows that even this joy might be temporary. On DVD.