姊姊 「Zizi」
Release Date: 2022
Duration: 25 mins.
Director: Pan Ke-yin
Writer: Pan Ke-yin (Screenplay),
Starring: Huang Pei-chi, Chu Yi-ming, Kao Yi-ling, Lan Wei-hua, Chang Kai-jhe,
The title My Sister may make audiences think this film is told from the perspective of the main character’s sibling – a little terror who breaks the peaceful sleep of the lead by playing a tooting tune on a recorder in the opening seconds of the film – but it is really the closely observed portrait of a teenage girl as we get details her younger brother could never know and we are let into her interior world as she begins to doubt her place in the pecking order of the family.
Our lead character is Hsiao-Chun (Huang Pei-chi) and as her 18th birthday approaches, her ascent into adulthood seems almost assured as she is likely to get into a good university based on strong school grades and the cash she has diligently saved from her job at a call centre. She is a fairly independent girl who even has a decent admirer who is quite supportive. The only fly in the ointment is her bratty younger brother, Hsia Zai (Chu Yi-ming), with whom she shares a bedroom. To put it bluntly, he seems to be her polar opposite in personality and the type of sibling who you would want to throttle as he torments her with crude comments and thoughtless behaviour. Worse still, he seems to get away with it all too often as her parents seemingly give him more attention and money which they get from their basic service jobs.
Insecurity overtakes irritation on the eve of her 18th birthday when Hsiao-Chun overhears a secret that alters how she sees her family. Up until then, in early sequences of the film, we get a sense of how capable she is through key shots of her university acceptance email and bank book but from the revelation, the dynamics of the family are brought to life via acting that sets the focus as coming from Hsiao-Chun Huang’s perspective.
The sense of Hsiao-Chun being frustrated with her position in the family is excellently delivered through small instances of everyday life as when she sees the money lavished on her brother and the seeming lack of care from her parents as her day of departure approaches. However, what looks dire to her is really the ambivalence of people getting on with their lives and Hsia Zai’s own naughtiness is really childish impulsiveness. Despite our understanding of the situation, her gradual breaking away from her family with a sense of resentment makes sense and becomes viscerally felt through Huang Pei-chi’s moving performance as her face registers little moments of disappointment with a furrowed brow or sad gaze at being overlooked in favour of her brother.
Throughout it all, Pan Ke-yin’s depiction of working-class family in rural Taiwan is convincing and visually pleasing sight as he demonstrates an eye for locations and framing to capture his actors in evocative scenes. As the family walk down streets lined with fields and rusted factories in the fading glow of the sun, we get a real sense of place and the fading of a time of togetherness. The dolly shots of people on bikes add a further sense of forward movement to an inevitable parting and so, as Hsiao-Chun’s feelings dominate and as her family’s feelings seem ambiguous even as she heads to university, it seems like they will part on a bitter note but Pan Ke-yin leaves us with a moving heart-warming family embrace of sorts happens. Before that terrible little brother gets the last word in!
This was one of my favourite films of the festival and at 25 minutes, it feels perfectly formed as it drew me in and hit all of its beats so precisely. I felt really moved by the emotions of resentment and the sense of loss and then swept away by the turn in events at the end. This story is being developed into a feature by Pan Ke-yin. If he can keep the balance he established here, then his new film will be wonderful.
My Sister plays at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 11 and March 16!