PAN Ke-yin returns to his directorial debut My Sister (2021) and reunites with the cast to expand the lives of each member of the Hsiao household in an episodic family saga that spans four distinct time periods and seasons. Elder sister, Spring, seeks her origins before heading to university, Autumn, the mother, grapples with conceiving a child through artificial insemination, Summer, the younger brother, tries to engage with a paternal figure he barely knows just before his military service, and Winter, the father, desperately tries to change his fate as problems mount up.

Family Matters has that double meaning describing the ups and downs everyone experiences and also the sense that family is important and PAN Ke-yin’s graceful story successfully delivers this organically through repeating motifs, naturalistic acting, and the richly delivered atmosphere of rural Guanxing village setting.