Japan Premiere

The camera patiently observes an elderly couple going about their days in a quiet, almost forgotten part of Taipei. In public the husband, who walks with a limp, is very argumentative with his hard-working wife. In private, however, there are the glimmers of warmth and affection that keeps their relationship going. Memories of an estranged son can be seen dotted around their dilapidated home. It is only upon his wife’s death that the man can show the depth of his love, something which drives him to take unusual actions, including a solitary pilgrimage in the spring…

Naturalistic in acting, contemplative in tone, oblique in storytelling, the filmmakers trust the audiences to pick up the disappointments and divisions that have marked the couple’s life. Enshrouding this is a sense of melancholy drawn from the idea of learning to value things only when it is too late. [Jason MAHER]