The epic story of two married couples enduring personal tragedy and state-imposed suffering is an almost unbearably poignant, profound masterpieceWang Xiaoshuai navigates an ocean of sadness in this film. It can finally be watched only through a blur of tears and with a terrible, futile need to reach into the screen and hug the two ageing lead characters. So Long, My Son is an epic generational drama of two families in China, from the 1980s to the present day; directed and shot with clarity and calm, audaciously structured in terms of flashback and flashforward - and acted superbly.There is also touch of melodrama in it, if such a thing can be said to exist in the unshowy walking pace of Wang´s storytelling style, with some influences from classic Japanese family drama perhaps, and gestures of soap-operatic melancholy, largely in the repeated (and unexpected) use of the plaintive tune Auld Lang Syne. This is a film that doesn´t signpost its relevant facts very emphatically and you have to stay alert for shifts in the timeline, and for important details that are only revealed later. But, once you have mentally readjusted away from traditional linear expectations, this movie opens up like a flower. Continue reading...
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