Funerals are handled in many different ways in cinema around the world, but rarely do they occupy the entire plot of the film.
Mei's father is dying of cancer in a rural village in Changhua County and whilst she and her brother Da-Chi race from Taipei to be with him in his final hour, they arrive at the hospital just moments too late. It's a somber opening to what is at times a joyous movie.
Examining the ridiculousness, hypocrisy and sorrow of a week long Taoist funeral, this first feature by Yulin Wang (Alifu) is a beautifully heartwarming tale of a family trying to honour their father, despite the insanity of a cultural spectacle which leaves them little time to grieve.
From scheduled crying, packing the coffin with cigarettes, the logistics of refrigerating the corpse in 40 degree heat and local political figures using the funeral as a photo opportunity to a tower of exploding beer cans, Seven Days In Heaven is jam packed with the absurdity of how humans deal with death.
Gerance Li-Wen Wang (the screenwriter of Jump A-Shin!) gives a magnificent performance as Mei, imbuing the character with a stoic grace which struggles at times to keep the sheer pain of filial separation from bubbling over. And whilst the movie is filled with hilarious comedic moments, the always wonderful Wu Pong Fong (Cape No. 7, Alifu) as the uncle who also happens to be a Taoist priest overseeing the procedures, brings a level of gravitas and respect for tradition to the entire affair.
Cinematography is emotionally motivated (When Mei receives the crushing news of her father's impending death, the camera falls from it's tripod onto the floor) and flashbacks are beautifully colour graded to suggest different time periods.
But it's the trio of final scenes - at a rural railway station, a night market and finally at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport which are truly emotionally devastating, in which we learn that grief is not an abstract thing to be dealt with in a week, but the ongoing ache of losing that connection with someone you loved dearly.
