Tu Wei accidentally hurts Yan Shuo in the playground. Feeling guilty, Wei brings Shuo home to play video games and to meet his well-off parents for dinner. Shuo’s mysterious identity unfolds when he pours too much soy sauce on his rice, hinting at his deprived upbringing with his abusive father and a mother who has passed away. With hints of SALTBURN and THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY, the film builds up a sinister, understated tension between the two boys, starting with a coin game where the second player wins while the first player loses. Wei loves fencing and is not academically inclined, while Shuo is everything Wei’s parents dreamed of.
Wei’s parents discuss regrets of their one-child policy abortion as they become closer and more endeared with a mystery-laden Shuo. Evidence of Shuo’s physical abuse from his father and the father’s surprise death raises the stakes of Shuo’s true motives and character. Meanwhile, Wei’s parents found this tragedy an opportunity to adopt Shuo and fulfil their dream of an instant two-child family with an ideal new son compensating for the failures of their present son.
In Wei’s world, however, this situation has worsened his bad relationship with his parents. Growing tensions manifest between the two boys, from Shuo wanting the shirt Wei is already wearing to a tense light-switch battle to a physical altercation that never resolves itself. If there is a theme that Lin Jianjie employs throughout this film, it is that circular view of the non-resolution of scenes that has been figuratively used throughout. It starts with the round microscope shots of the father to the circle shots of the aquarium and character points-of-view, even down to the many oranges that backdrop the mother’s grocery shopping. The microscope shot has been an excellent metaphor for an up-close examination of discontented family life with an outside organism invading the weakened cell.
The film also expertly uses music to highlight the conflicts of family belonging and jealousy, using an eclectic mix of modern rap, classical piano and worded meditation to psychologically unravel Shuo’s state of mind. Shuo’s line to the father that one cannot choose the family you are born to but can decide what one wants to become seems harmless and even inspiring, but not within the context of the film’s dark, brooding style and mood. The most crucial scene is when the parents are planning for school entry to Stanford for one of their sons, with a surprise twist revealed at the end of the scene.
With an eye for detail, Lin Jianjie highlights the last moments of a dying fish to be cooked fresh for a meal as a possible symbolic yearning for a person’s recognition to live a good life, but which son that alludes to is the director’s masterful technique in letting the audience find out for themselves. BRIEF HISTORY OF A FAMILY is an experiment in the psychological thriller genre with an original and thought-provoking ending. It is a stark re-examination of an affluent China moulded by government policies that have affected the family life of its society.
Oscar season is upon us once again and it’s time to enjoy the year’s best in films. The following are my Oscar choices for the main categories, with my ranking for each and an explanation of my choices.
MATCHMAKING is an eye-opening, charming Romeo and Juliet story sans a tragic ending within Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community. A 2023 Israeli box office success, this modern-day romantic dramedy from director Erez Tadmor delivers an insightful exploration of the Jewish matchmaking tradition with a dose of social critique.
