I saw this at the Toronto International Film Festival with no prior knowledge what this movie was about.
And perhaps because of that, I was puzzling to figure out what this movie was about. Where was it taking place? What was going on?
And though one quickly figures out that the characters are speaking Cantonese (mostly, occasionally Mandarin), and yet, that the country is not China or Hong Kong, pretty quickly, I could figure out I was in Malaysia, somewhere. Neat!
This was a unique setting -- a Chinese story taking place in Malaysia -- where 40% of the population is Chinese, and where the Cantonese people, I would think, have a different culture than the Cantonese in China or Hong Kong. This made me curious -- how would they be different? What differences would this movie zero in on that would continue to pull me into the story? Well -- I'm not sure I could answer that by the end of the movie as the themes in this movie were quite universal from what I could tell: 1) Family separation; 2) family closeness; 3) Isolation; and 4) Isolation within family. These themes surfaced here and there and mixed for a very unique view at the members of an extended family. The backdrop of Malaysia was then only subtly reinforced. In the end, this movie could have taken place anywhere, the people could have been speaking any language, and the issue would have been a unique look at the lack of relationships between family members and the harm that it can do.
Subtle, touching, and finely directed.
And perhaps because of that, I was puzzling to figure out what this movie was about. Where was it taking place? What was going on?
And though one quickly figures out that the characters are speaking Cantonese (mostly, occasionally Mandarin), and yet, that the country is not China or Hong Kong, pretty quickly, I could figure out I was in Malaysia, somewhere. Neat!
This was a unique setting -- a Chinese story taking place in Malaysia -- where 40% of the population is Chinese, and where the Cantonese people, I would think, have a different culture than the Cantonese in China or Hong Kong. This made me curious -- how would they be different? What differences would this movie zero in on that would continue to pull me into the story? Well -- I'm not sure I could answer that by the end of the movie as the themes in this movie were quite universal from what I could tell: 1) Family separation; 2) family closeness; 3) Isolation; and 4) Isolation within family. These themes surfaced here and there and mixed for a very unique view at the members of an extended family. The backdrop of Malaysia was then only subtly reinforced. In the end, this movie could have taken place anywhere, the people could have been speaking any language, and the issue would have been a unique look at the lack of relationships between family members and the harm that it can do.
Subtle, touching, and finely directed.