Based on a true story inspired by Lin Po-yu's past, who wrote, directed and edited the movie, “Growing Pains” is a film that could be described as a tribute to fatherhood.
“Growing Pains” is screening at Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh
Fourteen-year-old Yao is growing up just with his father, Huang Reng-shiung, a small diner restaurant, whose gambling addiction has left the two in ruin. Yao, who is a member of the track team of his school, cannot afford to buy new shoes, with his father trying to repair them almost every night, but with no particular success. The bullying has already started in the school, and one day the young man finds himself injured due to his ruined shoes. At the same time, Reng-shiung is being hunted by loan-sharks, who even call at home and curse at his son, but to no avail, as he does not seem able to stop gambling. One night, he decides to buy his son new shoes after all, but the events do not go exactly as planned.
Lin Po-yu directs a films that makes a very interesting point, that even if some people are not exactly decent as individuals, they can still be good parents, with the ending highlighting the self-sacrificing aspect of this remark. At the same time, the antithesis created by the fact that Reng-shiung is not a bad person, just an addict, with the consequences his actions have to his son, carry the narrative from beginning to end, also because Yao takes his father's behavior stoically, without whining, at least until he finally lashes out. Lastly, and in a rahter pessimistic comment, Lin seems to state that for some people, there is no turning back, in the elements that is the main source of drama here. At the same time though, the ending is not exactly clear on the point it makes considering the fate of Yao, something that dulls the quality of the context here.
Nevertheless, all the aformentioned benefit the most by the acting, with Chen Yi-wen giving another great performance as the kind-hearted loser Ren-shiung, while the inner torment and the aforementioned stoicity are presented excellently by Chen Chong-en in the role of Yao.
Wen Lau's cinematography captures the various settings here nicely, with the track field, the diner and the sports store being presented with realism. The apogee of the visuals comes just before the ending, with the blurring the what both the son and the audience know happened working excellently for the scene. Lin's own editing induces the film with a relatively fast pace, that works nicely for the narrative.
Lin Po-yu probably needed a bit more time to analyze his characters (and maybe mention what happened to the mother) but in general, “Growing Pains” presents its comments nicely, while benefiting by both its visuals and the acting.
