by Pauline Adamek
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Bai Run-Yin, Akio Chen, Liu Kuan-Ting, Eugenie Liu
Intro:
… a gem of a film, full of quiet observation depicting finely calibrated emotions.
In 1990, the Taiwan stock market is volatile. We’re told that the world of 11-year-old Liao Jie (Bai Run-yin) undergoes big changes during this period.
Flashing back to Autumn 1989, we see Liao Jie’s father Liao Tai-Lai (Liu Kuan-ting) is a restaurant worker. A widower, he’s raising his 5th grade son alone. Living simply and frugally, Dad hand-makes his son’s clothes on an old manual sewing machine. Their relationship is tender and routine.
Stylish Miss Lin (Eugenie Liu) collects cash rent from store owners and tenants for Boss Xie, aka Old Fox (Akio Chen). We learn that there’s a possibility for Dad to finally open a hair salon. Liao Jie begins to count down the days.
The downstairs neighbours are making large dividends on their investments, thanks to “insider tips” from an underground investor known as ‘the Mayor.’ Meanwhile, property prices have shot up and Liao Jie’s dream for their future seems to be moving out of their grasp.
Picked on after school by the bigger kids, and teased for wearing home-made clothes, Liao Jie starts to notice behaviour patterns around him.
Their landlord takes a fatherly interest in the young boy. The Old Fox imparts some cryptic wisdom regarding the bigger kids who are bullying him, teaching Liao Jie how to be ruthless just like him. We see Miss Lin caring for them both when they each come down with fever, even collecting Liao Jie after school and bringing him to Old Fox’s mansion, where he sees how the other half lives – in opulence.
Eventually, the government starts to crack down on those underground investing companies, leading to ruin for the downstairs neighbours. Liao Jie starts to hope that this tragedy might mean opportunity for him and his father. Liao Jie’s father, however, is struck by the boy’s newfound callous attitude.
Writer/director Hsiao Ya-Chuan’s drama is a gem of a film, full of quiet observation depicting finely calibrated emotions. The filmmaker strikes a careful balance of presenting the complex world of the adults and their actions as only partly understood by his ambitious young central protagonist, while conveying all the information we need as viewers.
Simply but beautifully filmed, with impressionistic cinematography by Lin Tse-chung, paired with elegant pacing, each sequence is meticulously composed, with the muted colour palette reflecting the quiet melancholy and turmoil of its protagonist’s fervent desires.
Liao Jie’s father is a musician and a sensitive soul, who strives to make ends meet and provide for his son. The story delicately charts their relationship as well as the boy’s emerging morals as he confronts a very challenging world.
Old Fox earned numerous awards at the recent Golden Horse Film Awards in Taiwan, including the best director award for Hsiao Ya-chuan, as well as the best supporting actor, makeup and costume, and best film score prizes. The Golden Horse Film Awards are generally considered to be the most prestigious awards in Chinese-language cinema.
There’s lots of eating, with meals featuring in almost every scene, so don’t watch this one while hungry.
