Joseph Chen-chieh Hsu illustrates an important message about the importance of moving on against the luscious beauty that is Tainan, Taiwan. Unfortunately poor pacing and under whelming drama prevents the film from hitting hard.
On her 70th Birthday, Lin Xiuying (Played by Shu-Fang Chen) makes grand birthday celebrations that quickly transform into funeral plans when her estranged husband who she has not seen in over a decade passes away. Without hesitation as a traditional Hoklo woman, she plans her husbands mourning and funeral grudgingly. The rest delves into her emotions over her husband and the reality of her actual feelings.
To my understanding, this is Hsu's debut feature film which went on to be last year's highest grossing film in Taiwan, which for a regional language film is surprising. You feel the deep passionate love for his country, especially Tainan. Temples, streets, markets, seashores, restaurants are all vividly displayed with their colors complimenting them on screen. The audio, while appearing rather minimally, usually knows how to hit the emotions just right. Much of the natural sounds like deep-frying, traffic, and the clicking of heels on the floor, provide a rather pleasant experience on the ears, almost transporting you there.
I applaud the cast a lot, its rare to see a film almost exclusively led by women, that to directed by a man. Everyone's acting most notably Shu-Fang Chen and
Ying-Hsuan Hsieh were extremely well done.
Sadly what didn't work for the film was the lack of overall connectivity, and the lack of backstory that could have help me connect with Lin and why it was so hard to let go. There is a lack of heart wrenching emotional events that make us want to strongly empathize with her or her daughters.
Overall, its not a terrible film. Hsu has an essay about the importance of letting go that becomes apparent in the end. Unfortunately, it could have been amplified with better on screen management of events, possibly more focus on the matriarchy and less of the daughters.
