This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
Liu is angry and bitter that her husband left her and their son for another man Jay. Now that he is dead, she finds out that Jay is the beneficiary of his insurance money and demands that he return that money for her son's future. Jay is a young hippy-ish man who is spending his time attempting to direct what appears to be a poor quality play. In between the two is stuck Song, who is angry and frustrated with his mother for being angry, resentful frustrated over everything around her. He finds himself leaving home in a fit of anger and comes to live with Jay, who clearly doesn't want him. But neither Jay nor Liu can do anything about him. Song keeps reminding himself that jay is a bad man, but then he is the only one who he can stay with since he doesn't want to be with his mother. He thinks that all she cares about is money. In between all this, we see glimpses of flashbacks of everyone's lives, which are no longer than a couple of minutes each, which help us come closer to every character, including Zhengyuan who binds all these characters. Unhappy about the situation around them, the three characters eventually begin to manage to come to terms if not with their own grief then at least by the end of the film they have a better understanding of each other’s.
The film is about pain, and it can be painful to watch it at times. It is from the point of view of the kid. As I said above, you think this is gonna be one of those silly over-the-top films but by the end of it it is such a rewarding film that isn’t afraid to feel its feelings and grapple with what they mean. All three characters start as one-dimensional and the way it is shown on the screen, you are put off by the mother's character. She is over-bearing and frustrated but we slowly understand that how this bitterness started. And Jay is more like a hippie who has no money and for some inexplicable reasons wants to run this play at any cost. Jay and Liu bicker and antagonize each other, both jilted by the same lover, but the two need an outlet for their anger. Jay's character is the one who get to know eventually towards the end. You want to blame him for stealing a woman's husband, but through flashbacks you get to know the realities. You find out that Zhengyuan and Jay were lovers long before he married Lui but, struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, Zhengyuan leaves to try and live a “normal life”. When he becomes ill he leaves his family to spend his last days with his true love Jay. Zhengyuan's death happens so sudden that he never has time to grief for it. Its only when he finally presents the play that the wife realizes about his true love and how finally on the 100th day of his death, through his play, Jay is giving his final goodbye. There are many more emotional scenes like this. One other scene that stood out for me was when Zhengyuan tells Liu about him being gay. The performances are all outstanding from every single person. The cast each do a wonderful job of showing themselves before and after grief and all of them. This is a Netflix release and I hope more and more people get to see this film.
There is so much I wanna write about this film and all the memories of watching it are coming back. This film is a lot more than drama, comedy, coming out genres. Its a complete package about emotions, love, sacrifices. Love can never be wrong. People may be. It is a tale of two ill-fated loves, treated with immense pathos. A strange, mutual sympathy for the grief of losing the same man, in ways both very different and very similar. (8.5/10)
Comments