So Long, My Son

[ladams888]

Saw this at Wimbledon Curzon. This film follows two married couples adapting to changes in China during the 80s (at the end of the Cultural Revolution) up until the present time. At times, I found it very difficult to follow as it kept flitting backwards and forwards through time, and there was no way of knowing which decade we were watching as this film didn’t use the usual devices (i.e letting us know what year it was, or which location by means of a subtitle, or change of hairstyles, fashions etc) and the protagonists didn’t appear change in appearance over the 40 years, apart from a little bit of grey hair in the present-day scenes – all of which left me feeling very confused. Through the film, we witness the implementation of the One Child Policy by means of enforced abortions performed on women who already have one child, the distrust of Western culture (i.e. Western music and dancing was forbidden) and the economic rise of China in recent years. It was a sad film, which would have been much more meaningful had it just followed one timeline. At 3hrs 5mins long, it could easily have about 2 hours cut out. It was as if there had been little or no editing. Not a film I could recommend. 3/10

[annase]

I thought this was a very interesting and moving film, though I agree at three hours it was very long. I thought the device of switching between times was very effective, as it added depth, explained the current situations by looking back to what had happened in the past. I actually thought that the characters' ageing was done very well. It did not look fake. The central dilemma - the forced abortion - was fascinating, especially as China has only recently relaxed the one child policy. But I agree the plot was hard to follow in places.