Movie Reviews

‘Ohong Village’ Review: Lim Lung Yin’s Debut on Yearnings Far From Taipei

Filmed in grainy 16mm, Lim Lung Yin’s OHONG VILLAGE is a modern-day retelling of a disconnected and discontented filial relationship in a small ebbing fishing village. The decision to use film gives this drama a vintage quality to it that is Euro-style reflective and melancholic.

Sheng-Jii (Lin Yu-Hsu) and his father Ming (King Jieh-Wen) are two men at odds with each other. Sheng-Ji has just come back to Ohong from an unsuccessful attempt to make it in Taipei. He resorts to covering up this truth and instead lies about his success in the city. The only one who can see through him is his father Ming. In one confrontational dinner table scene, Ming bursts out in anger to stop the lying.

The film then explores not only Sheng-Ji and Ming’s relationship but also the travails and cultural challenges of village life. It also touches on the precarious nature of their village livelihood of oyster farming. At the heart of the story as well as the impending mortality dilemma of Ming.

OHONG VILLAGE is a film about village life and culture in Taiwan that is slowly disintegrating due to the irresistible lure and dominance of cities like Taipei. It is a film about family relationships as well, and that ingrained Chinese culture of hard work and success to elevate oneself in life.

OHONG VILLAGE (4/5)

Like this article?

Rolmar Baldonado

Films for the cineaste. Were you moved, transported? Did you laugh, cry? Was it cathartic? Were you disturbed, affected, riveted? Did it make you think? Freelance film editor, cineaste and cinephile Twitter: @film_critik Twitter: @rolmar Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/filmcritik/

More To Explore

Movie Reviews

‘Ulam: Main Dish’ Review – Filipino Food Has Never Tasted This Good

Finally, a documentary about Filipino cuisine is launched to the gastronomical delight of food and film critics. Filipino-American documentary filmmaker Alexandra Cuerdo helms ULAM: MAIN DISH. With this, she has deliciously concocted not only an immersion into Filipino cuisine but also an exploration of Filipino culture. It is also a study of the Filipino migrant experience and even a side trip into the history of Philippine politics and government.

Rolmar Baldonado August 13, 2019

Blog

COVID-19 In The Context of Zombie Films

In the South Korean zombie classic TRAIN TO BUSAN, there is a scene where the zombies are locked in one train compartment with the uninfected humans doing all that they can so these zombies can’t escape. It is a natural human instinct for survival, to not die, and the zombie film is probably the most existential of the horror genre to embody this.

Rolmar Baldonado August 27, 2020