Hong Kong Family

The chaos began at the Winter Solstice dinner eight years ago. The father lost his temper, the son, not able to forgive his father, ran away from home. Eight years have passed, and the family's relationship is still cold and distant. A cousin returns to Hong Kong from England and hopes to gather everyone for a Winter Solstice dinner. The long-awaited gathering prompted everyone to rethink their relationships with family members. Some choose to leave, some are back. When things are about to fall apart, it might as well be an opportunity to mend connections.

I'm quite a fan of Hong Kong cinema so thought this might make a fitting choice for my my first cinema outing of 2023. Sadly, it didn't prove to be a very wise move. Indeed, the writing is pretty much on the wall from the opening scenes that introduce us to a mother "Ling" (Teresa Mo) driving her family to her own mother's house for a special winter solstice dinner. In the car is her husband "Chun" (Tse Kwan-ho), a seemingly unemployed, rather cuckolded man upon whom she bears down relentlessly. Trying to keep the peace is their seventeen year old son "Cheun" (Edan Lui) whilst the daughter "Ki" (Hedwig Tam) tries to keep her head down. The seriously over-scripted, and frankly pretty irritating dialogue continues as this dysfunctional relationship ultimately drives just about everyone away, and leaves the audience wondering why on Earth we would want to watch this observational car-crash of a documentary style drama that is completely devoid of humour or personality. Ordinarily, I moan about the waste of time spent on excessive character development. Well here, there is precisely none! What is the backstory that has led this once loving couple to viscerally detest each other? Do they actually detest each other? Problem is, I didn't really care one way or the other, especially once the timeline is advanced eight years. Now the two children are trying to make their own ways in life, but again not in a especially interesting or engaging fashion, meanwhile poor old granny (Fung So-bo) must sit and listen to all this emotional train-wreckery, bitterness and selfishness whilst trying to come to terms with a tragedy that is completely irreverent to the plot! Might they all reconcile in time for their lavish banquet? I was already eyeing the exit by that point...