Roundtable Event: Contemporary Women’s Cinema in Taiwan
This roundtable focuses on Taiwan’s post-new wave cinema from a female / feminine perspective
29 June, 2021 1:31 pm
Xiao-An has been away from home for years. When her mother decides to sell the old apartment and move to the seaside to nurse her deteriorating mental health, Xiao-An returns to help organise the apartment. There, tangible traces of her childhood evoke comforting memories. But when Xiao-An discovers she is pregnant, differences with her mother lead to conflicts and arguments unearthing secrets from her mother’s past. As their quarrels increase, the only fleeting peace comes with her mother’s medication. For brief moments, they might just be able to rediscover their love and find reconciliation.
Rising director CHEN Ting-Ning uses a tense hand-held style to create an intimate picture of the daily life of a modern mother and daughter. There are numerous gripping scenes between the two, from a heated confrontation in the living room to a dance together under the kitchen light. These are intercut with flashbacks of the daughter’s childhood memories. In a heartfelt and moving way, the film captures a family’s intricate love-hate relationship.
