ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Reel Asian

Reel Asian ’21: A Trip to Heaven

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Set on the road to Mekong Delta,?A Trip to Heaven?follows 50-year-old Madame Tam as she boards a mysterious tour bus. After she settles in, she is shocked to see her former high school sweetheart sitting in the back row. Enamoured and excited, Madame Tam battles her nerves and must decide whether or not she?s going to attempt to reconcile with her long-lost love.

Directed by Ling Duong, A Trip to Heaven is a beautifully poetic piece about death that also maintains its sense of humour. Through slow, steady camera work, Duong?s short creates an atmosphere of inevitability. While we don?t fully understand where this bus tour leads, Duong never lets us forget that it leads somewhere. Although kept moving with humour, the film maintains a slow burn as it builds towards the final scene at the ?Stairway to Heaven?.

What?s more,?Heaven?also emphasizes the emotional burden that we can put upon ourselves for missed opportunities. For example, as Madame Tam yearns to reconcile with her lost love, she expresses her desire to relive a piece of her past that she regrets. Approaching the end of her life, she still holds out hope that?maybe?there might still be an opportunity for long lost love. To her, this is a moment has left a hole in her soul. As a result, the chance to change her past is embedded with possibility and hope.?

However, at the same time,?Heaven?serves as a reminder that you cannot always fix what has been done either. Sometimes, moments from our past cannot be repaired, no matter how much we yearn for them to be changed. In this way, this?Trip to Heaven?wants us to believe in hope for change? but also points out that it may not always be possible.

A Trip to Heaven?premiered at Reel Asian Film Fest ?21.

Reel Asian ’21: Taipei Suicide Story

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Set in a society vastly different from our experience,?Taipei Suicide Story?takes place in a hotel that willingly assists its guests with ending their lives. By providing a number of methods by which they may commit suicide, this place runs efficiently and effectively. However, when a hotel guest who is unsure about her life and death decision is discovered to have ?overstayed her welcome?, a receptionist begins to break the rules of engagement and the two strike up an unusual friendship.

Directed by KEFF, Taipei Suicide Story is a surprisingly sweet and strangely funny look at the tension between life and death. Keeping his camera movements simple and his dialogue quiet, KEFF offers a sense of reverence for the lives lost, even if their passing takes place in a facility where it?s expected. In many ways, this hotel is a morgue, inviting guests to join in the gentle release of death. However, by using a warm colour palette, KEFF keeps this place feeling both welcoming and safe within its walls. Though the end result may be sad, this hotel feels just the opposite.

Anchored by heart-warming (and heart-rendering) performances by Vivian Sung and Tender Huang, Suicide Story speaks to the human need for intimacy and connection in a space where hope feels lost. After remaining in the hotel for an unexpected length of time, Sung?s character is looking for something. Whether it?s a reason to live or die is unclear, yet what is apparent is that she is sensing a deep loneliness. Her openness and emptiness connects deeply with Huang?s receptionist. To him, this place has always been about respecting the rules while others suffer. However, in this guest, something sparks. As the two grow closer, so too does KEFF use this story to speak to our human need for intimacy and the emotional void that is left without it.  

Taipei Suicide Story premiered at Reel Asian Film Fest ?21.

Reel Asian ’21: Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

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Set above a simple Japanese caf?,?Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes?follows Kato as he returns home from a hard day at work. As he looks around his tiny apartment for his guitar pick, an image of him appears on his computer monitor, claiming to be him but two minutes into the future. Soon, Kato and his friends begin to enjoy the phenomenon, using the ?Time TV? to improve their lives. However, in doing so, they also quickly realize that there are consequences to their reckless behaviour as the future strikes back with a vengeance.

Directed by Junta Yamaguchi,?Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes?is an absolute joy from start to finish. Hilarious and energetic, this well-written mind-trip through time fully commits to its premise yet feels fully grounded in reality. Adding to the fun is the fact that Yamaguchi and his team shoot the film to feel as one continuous shot, moving the camera with gentle urgency. In doing so, he keeps the viewer in the moment (and continues to add to the illusion) as time unfurls in front of them in real time.

At the film?s heart though lies questions about what establishes our future. As Kato and his friends look further into the beyond, so too do they lean into the ?plan? that has been set before them. Their decisions are affected and they become bound to the will of the digital story unfolding in front of them. However, are they bound by the rules of the future? Or do they in fact have free will to make their own decisions and what would the effects of that be? As it explores the boundaries of choice, so too does?Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes?lean into the relationship between hope and freedom as we create our own futures.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes?is now playing at Reel Asian Film Fest ?21.

Reel Asian ’21: Inbetween Girl

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Inbetween Girl tells the story of Angie Chen, an American teenage girl dealing with the typical dramas of popularity, boys, sex, and plans after high school. What sets Inbetween Girl apart from your typical coming-of-age drama though is that the story greatly centres around the aftermath of her parents? divorce and ties deeply into the relationship between her ethnicity and her identity.?

Angie?s mother is a white American and her father is Chinese. After the divorce, her father moves on to a Chinese woman whose daughter, Fang, is the stereotypical model student and model minority character. Perfect grades, Stanford student, ?pratical? career aspirations are her markers (and everything Angie is seemingly not). Coupled with the fact that she grew up in a household that never spoke Chinese or acknowledged her Asian roots, Angie is stuck in-between cultures and trying to identify which (if either) define her. The film also explores Angie?s experience growing up biracial in an all white school, where the standards of beauty set by her peers show off their racist tendencies. (In fact, she’s even compared to a panda and treated like a dog that was bred for its ‘cute features’.)

Overall, I enjoyed the direction that Inbetween went as well. Angie is in a typical love triangle you see in many coming of age films, yet she has no desire for popularity. Instead, Angie simply wants to just live a good life and find her own identity. By showcasing it through her art, the film shows her personal growth effectively as she finds a way to express what she can?t through dialogue.?

Inbetween Girl is now playing at Reel Asian Film Fest ’21