Jin is deeply hurt by the disappearance of her mother, crying frequently and often not eating, while younger sister Bin seems to be less affected by her absence.

When another neighborhood boy gives Bin roasted grasshoppers, the girls get the idea to cook their own as a means of making money to fill up their piggy bank.

The site's critics consensus reads, "Intermittently wondrous and harsh, this sensitive drama about two abandoned sisters gives time and space to the intimate and beautiful moments of childhood.

Ben Machell of The Times wrote the film is "A touching, gentle examination of the giddy rush and sickening sense of dislocation that comes with being left on your own when you're young".

[6] Sukhdev Sandhu The Daily Telegraph said that "Treeless Mountain is a work of diaphanous and fugitive beauty",[7] while Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote that the film is "[n]ot an easy watch, but worth sticking with".

The Los Angeles Times criticized the film for "lack[ing] the freshness and surprise of In Between Days",[9] while Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote "Treeless Mountain casts a sad, pellucid spell.

[10] According to Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, "Treeless Mountain has the tang of real life, though this is realism that has been filtered through 60 or so years of world art cinema".

[11] In positive reviews, J. Hoberman of The Village Voice called the film "Skillfully unsentimental"[12] while Nick Schager of Slant Magazine said it has "[a] tremendous poise and poignancy".

[14] In contrast, The Austin Chronicle's Marjorie Baumgarten said, "The problem with this American indie filmed in Korea is that, despite the captivating faces and sad predicament of these little girls, nothing much happens".