Paco Wen was born in 2000 and comes from Chaozhou, Guangdong, China. He is a young director, screenwriter, and editor. His editing experience has sharpened his understanding of narrative and montage, while his life is split between the capital Beijing in the north and a small town in southern China. This duality has shaped his unique perspective and style. It also drives his focus on balancing regional personal expression with genre storytelling, as he seeks to reinterpret traditional ideas through a contemporary lens.
The story begins with an impressive celebration, a frantically moving festival taking place in Chaoshan, with scores of people participating and attending. In another corner, however, a group of people, both men and women, are praying in preparation for the funeral of an elderly woman. Four siblings, her children, are present, as is their father. The proceedings continue respectfully but are filled with sadness. A dropped cassette recorder makes the father particularly emotional, as the voice of the deceased is soon heard as background throughout the movie, juxtaposed with a radio broadcast about the New Year’s celebration. The contrast between the siblings and the people around them is evident, but things take a turn for the worse when the father, who is soon revealed to suffer from dementia, leaves the house on his own. Despite their own issues and situations, all four siblings begin dealing with his disappearance.
One of the daughters soon finds him, and the siblings gather under the family’s roof, although one of them is absent at first. Beneath the surface, each harbors personal secrets, leading to a series of comedic yet poignant events as tension mounts and the father remains trapped in his dream about their mother. Koi fish seem to play a significant role, both literally and metaphorically, throughout the story, as does food, in amore subtled fashion.
Paco Wen directs a traditional Chinese family drama about siblings who have taken very different paths in life, reuniting after the death of their mother. The father’s dementia adds an extra layer of tension, which is already present within the siblings, as early interactions reveal. The immature son, the one with a family to care for, the somewhat “illogical” sibling, and the latecomer are essentially archetypes, common in stories like this, and Wen makes great use of them to tell a very entertaining tale.
A playful dynamic, particularly between the two elder sisters, stands in direct contrast to the constant bickering between the only brother and the younger sister, while the father’s disappearance functions as a catalyst throughout. The connection to the new generation through the middle sister’s young son is a nice touch, intensifying the commentary on the strength of familial bonds.
Tang Ming-shuang’s cinematography is one of the strongest aspects of “Reunion.” Whether in long shots or close-ups, the framing is impeccable, with characters placed within their environment in a way that makes them part of it. Wen’s editing creates a mid-tempo rhythm that suits the story’s style, while some cuts, such as the one showing the father on a boat, add humor. The final sequence unfolds like a music video, closing the piece in the best possible way. The acting is also of a high standard, with all siblings portraying their roles with fitting naturalness.
“Reunion” does not exactly reinvent the genre but presents an interesting and quite entertaining story that is well shot, directed, and acted. It will definitely leave a smile on its viewers’ faces.
