Poetic pictures, quiet, long sequences, time flows slowly without much happening for the first part of the film. The story meanders episodically around two brothers and their father. All three are criminals. The elder brother Che returns to his decaying hometown in northern Taiwan, after serving a three-year term in jail for a crime his brother had committed. He is the central figure, who tries to keep his brother out of trouble. Together with the other family members they are a gang of drug dealers. A gang war hangs in the air, the younger brother's short fuse has much to do with this situation. In the middle of the story the father is coming back from Japan where he lived as a yakuza. He had abandoned his wife and his two children. His wife is already dead for years. Returning home he wants to pick up the family business and lead.
They all live a dreary life, no visible difference between the normal people around them. And there is the fact that the family is partly Japanese, a stigma. When the father prefers to speak Japanese he gets translated by one of his bodyguards. Che confronts him for neglecting them for most of their lives.
The film breaks into small sequences which are headed by chapter titles. The episodes do not always connect, they jump back and forth a little. Interspersed are some moments of tranquility when Che reflects his time with his mother.
Short outbreaks of violence tell of things to come Che is cruel too, we see him at that and still he manages to have our sympathy, since we feel that he wants to get out of this hell. But with a family like this you can't just pack up and leave. He has a wife too who decided not to speak anymore to anybody. He wants to win her back. Her inner voice serves as a narrator.
Scums as they are, the gang leaders argue with each other about rules and behavior's as if they were leaders of countries. But murder is the only language they have in common. The sea is a very strong picture in the story. At the end the sea survives everything. Impressing film.
They all live a dreary life, no visible difference between the normal people around them. And there is the fact that the family is partly Japanese, a stigma. When the father prefers to speak Japanese he gets translated by one of his bodyguards. Che confronts him for neglecting them for most of their lives.
The film breaks into small sequences which are headed by chapter titles. The episodes do not always connect, they jump back and forth a little. Interspersed are some moments of tranquility when Che reflects his time with his mother.
Short outbreaks of violence tell of things to come Che is cruel too, we see him at that and still he manages to have our sympathy, since we feel that he wants to get out of this hell. But with a family like this you can't just pack up and leave. He has a wife too who decided not to speak anymore to anybody. He wants to win her back. Her inner voice serves as a narrator.
Scums as they are, the gang leaders argue with each other about rules and behavior's as if they were leaders of countries. But murder is the only language they have in common. The sea is a very strong picture in the story. At the end the sea survives everything. Impressing film.
