After watching A Sun, I had high hopes for this Taiwanese family drama. Unfortunately, this movie fell short of my expectations. At more than 2 hours long, it is long and the pacing is extremely slow. As mentioned in my headline, a one word summary of this movie would be: bland. Many dramatic events unfolded in this movie - worsening Covid situation, a mother's descent into insanity, realising you have a secret half brother etc yet it feels almost like nothing happened. The main character Xiao Jing faces these tragic events with a stoicism not usually seen in teenagers, making this film hard to believe. How many 17/18 year olds are able to stomach watching their mother succumb into the throes of psychosis without so much as an outburst or a cry for help? Not me definitely. It also doesn't help that Xiao Jing is able to so quickly flip the switch from rebellious teenager with a tenuous relationship with her mother to dutiful daughter, without so much as a single complaint. The conversations between mother and daughter feel so stilted and scripted they might as well have been reading off a teleprompter. Though strangely I felt that the only time where the dialogue was believable was during the arguments Xiao Jing and her mother had at the start. This is sad because Gingle Wang and Alyssa Chia have the acting chops to pull it off but even the best of acting cannot save the dialogue.

This movie would have been more bearable had it been cut to 1.5 hours or shorter. At the end, I'm still not sure what this film is trying to convey. How strong a mother-daughter bond can be? Resilient teenagers? Importance of mental health during pandemic times? Or would it be not to play in rivers that are prone to flooding? Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine.

P.S: I would be grateful if anyone can tell me what the sound of waterfalls is meant to symbolize,