Co-production between China, France, Denmark and Qatar, “Brief History of a Family” is a rare occasion, where the Eastern influences do not turn an Asian movie into a European one (more European if you prefer) but are instead implemented to heighten some of its aesthetics, retaining, however, its original ‘substance’.
Brief History of a Family is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
Tu Wei is living an upper middle class life with his two parents, a cell biologist, and his mother, a former air hostess, who is now ‘delegated’ to a housewife with very little say in what happens in her household. A ‘product’ of the One Child Policy, Wei is destined to embody the wishes of his parents, and particularly his father, on what entails success, with them pushing him to study abroad, and expectedly, to learn English. The boy on the other hand, is more keen on dealing with fencing, to the anger of his father.
Check the interview with the director
One day in school, however, he accidentally hits his classmate, Yan Shuo, with a basketball while he was doing push ups, and ends up injuring his leg. In order to apologize, he invites him home to play video games and stay for dinner. The newcomer, though, impresses Wei’s parents with his overall demeanor and drive to excel in his studies, and the fact that he opens up about his deceased mother and his alcoholic father who frequently abuses him. Gradually, he starts becoming a member of the family.
Lin Jianjie‘s approach is as unique as it is intriguing, on a number of levels, both contextual and cinematic. Regarding the latter, the most unusual element here is that a film that could easily become a horror/thriller from the beginning, does not exactly follow that path, even if the ‘opportunities’ appear throughout. In this case, and despite Yan Shuo’s will to get into a loving family who is also on a higher financial level than his own, it is the parents who seem to be the ones who want him in his life.
And this happens rather easily, as the mother, who has already suffered a loss that makes her vulnerable to a newcomer, finally finds someone she can talk to, and who seems genuinely interested in her. The same applies to the father, who finds someone actually willing to follow his plans for the future of his son, not to mention one he can speak about his hobbies, and particularly his love for classical music. Even Wei is not reacting to the inclusion of the newcomer in his family, with the two boys getting along from the beginning, and even when they don’t, it is more of a ‘boys-will-be-boys’ nature.
Lastly, Lin Jianjie does not seem particularly interested in exploring whether Yan Shuo is a manipulative liar but more the reasons why a situation like this can take place, essentially resulting in comments regarding the concept of the modern Chinese, upper class family and the impact the One Child Policy had on it.
Equally impressive are the small contextual details, which also cross into the audiovisual aspect of the movie. One can only be impressed by how the father’s research on particular cells mirrors the newcomer’s behavior, or how the telescope scenes imply that the family is being watched, is under the lens of someone.
The scenes with the fencing, frequently presented in slow motion, the ones with the seats in the school track field, the one with the fruits in the supermarket, and the ones in the forest, highlight the same thing. That the movie is meticulously constructed and that the stillness of DP Zhang Jiahao’s camera, as much as the ultra stylist, ultra clean approach to the visuals essentially dictate the tension and the mystery that permeate the film. The same applies to the occasionally oneiric sound, which mostly appears in the scenes that break the form of the narrative, and Per K. Kirkegaard’s editing, which results in a relatively slow pace that allows both the story and the aforementioned meticulousness to truly shine.
The acting follows the same path. Guo Keyu as the Mother and Feng Zu as the father play their characters in an almost detached fashion, which makes the few moments they break their calmness, all the more impactful. Muran Lin as Tu Wei has a more grounded role, essentially playing the somewhat rebellious, spoiled teenager, but it is Xilun Shun as Yan Shuo who truly stands out. It is not only his calm, to the point of psychopathic demeanor, but also the excellent chemistry he exhibits with each and every actor, that make his performance truly astonishing to watch.
“Brief History of a Family” is a masterful film, both cinematically and contextually, and a truly impressive debut from a filmmaker who seems to have the abilities of a seasoned veteran.
