More tear-inducing than "Li Huanying", this film, filmed a real mother-daughter relationship!
Director Jia Ling's "Hello, Li Huanying", in the many films in the Spring Festival file in 2021, rushed to the first place in the box office list with unstoppable momentum.
From the beginning of the film to the present, with the touching story of the deep love between mother and daughter, it has captured the tears of many viewers. For a time, the national audience poured unlimited care into domestic female films.
Coincidentally, as early as November 6, 2020, Taiwan Province also released a female film based on a true story - "Lonely Taste".
In 2020, it is not only the first Taiwanese film with a box office of more than 100 million, but also the only local production with a box office of more than 200 million, and won the box office championship of Taiwan Province last year, proving that Taiwanese films are not dead.
Just as "Hello, Li Huanying" is adapted from Jia Ling's personal experience, "Lonely Taste" is also adapted from a family affair by director Xu Chengjie:
"Grandma has been giving birth to daughters, was disliked by Grandpa, after giving birth to seven daughters, finally gave birth to a son, but Grandpa still did not say goodbye." Many years later, when Grandma saw Grandpa again, it was already a cold body at the funeral, and there was an extra 'aunt' who was much younger than Grandma..."
To Xu Chengjie's surprise, his grandmother did not complain hysterically, but quietly and generously handled the aftermath with his grandfather's lover.
This incident left a deep impression on Xu Chengjie, in 2017, he was about to graduate from the Film Institute of New York University, specially returned to Taiwan, made the events of that year into a 30-minute short film, and won the Golden Spike Award that year.
Three years later, the director found investment and expanded the 30-minute short film into a 123-minute long film.
In the feature film, not only chen Shufang, the soul of the short film "Lonely Taste", was invited to star, but also Xie Yingxuan, who was in the fire in the past two years, Xu Ruoxuan, a film and television music artist, Zhang Junning, the first temperament beauty in Taiwan, and Sun Kefang, the best actress of the Golden Bell Award, to play the four daughters of Shufang's aunt.
Even Aunt Cai, the "little third" who has few lines, is also played by the famous supporting actress Ding Ning, which shows that the lineup of the film is not to be underestimated.
The story told in "Lonely Taste" is not complicated, and can be summed up in one sentence: a man abandons a bunch of women, and after his death, it triggers a scuffle between his wife, four daughters, and lovers.
The heroine Lin Xiuying was born in a famous family, and her husband Chen Bochang was a poor little policeman, she hated the police for making little money, and insisted that her husband resign from the police position and turn to a profitable business.
But Chen Bochang always failed in business, took a lot of money from Lin Xiuying and his mother's family, and even "stole" Lin Xiuying's father's seal, borrowed a large loan, and killed Lin Xiuying's father alive.
In the long run, Chen Bochang thought that the pressure on his body was too great, and he could not raise his head in front of the Lin family, so he took out a paper agreement to ask for a divorce.
Lin Xiuying's ideological tradition is also deeply in love with Chen Bochang, and naturally refuses to let go.
Even if Chen Bochang ran outside to dip flowers and twist grass, let their marriage relationship exist in name only. But Lin Xiuying carried a kitchen knife and her two daughters, and after running to the hotel to catch the adulteress, she would also help him pay the long-overdue room bill.
Lin Xiuying blindly paid, after all, did not keep Chen Bochang, this man who had already decided to go, or after she sent away her third daughter and gave birth to her fourth daughter, she resolutely abandoned her and left.
Lin Xiuying, who was abandoned by her mother's family and abandoned by her husband, had to rely on selling shrimp rolls to raise her daughters alone.
Fortunately, she has to be strong and tenacious, not only making the shrimp roll stall into a well-known restaurant, but also cultivating her daughters into talents.
The English name of the film, "Little Big Women", directly defines Lin Xiuying's small and great life.
However, on the day of her seventieth birthday, she suddenly learned that her husband, who had been unheard of for more than ten years, had died in Tainan Hospital.
Lin Xiuying, who insisted on the identity of Mrs. Chen, undertook chen Dechang's funeral, and in the process of mourning, she met Cai Meilin, who accompanied her husband through the rest of her life, and also re-examined the relationship between herself and her daughters.
More importantly, she finally let go of the emotions that had been tied up for many years and reached a reconciliation with her past personnel.
The film begins with Lin Xiuying's birthday and ends with Chen Bochang's funeral, and in 123 minutes, in a limited narrative way, from both ends of life, the film spies the emotions of three generations.
Such themes and narrative modes are similar to those of "Sea Street Diary" and "The Taste of Peppercorns".
However, compared with the warmth of "Sea Street Diary" and the indifference of "The Taste of Peppercorns", "Lonely Taste" has a little more bitterness and sadness in life.
Perhaps, this is why the film is named after the word "lonely taste".
"Lonely taste" is a Taiwanese slang term that originally refers to a restaurant that sells only one dish and does the best in this dish, which has since evolved into a philosophy of life: if you can concentrate and make a taste good, even if you are lonely, it doesn't matter.
In this film, the two words "lonely taste" say all the five tastes of Lin Xiuying's life.
In her career, she spent her life running shrimp rolls from roadside stalls to well-known restaurants; in the family, she lost her husband, but raised her daughters alone as a mother.
Lin Xiuying had many complaints about Chen Bochang, he did not earn money, he dipped flowers and twisted grass, and abandoned his family; what was most unacceptable was that Chen Bochang also "stole" the Lin family's seal loan, putting Lin Xiuying in an unkind and unjust situation.
But after so many years, Lin Xiuying has always been obsessed with Chen Bochang, she kept Chen Bochang's clothes, photos and love letters, and even her unsigned divorce agreement was kept for decades.
Such a woman, in the eyes of outsiders, is obsessed and ignorant, but she herself clings to this "taste of loneliness", self-moved, dead to old age, making people mourn their misfortune and anger.
It is Lin Xiuying who clings to this "lonely taste", resulting in that in addition to the third daughter who was sent away, her eldest daughter, second daughter and fourth daughter are all forced to taste the "lonely taste" of life to varying degrees.
The eldest daughter A Qing is an international dancer, likes a free and unrestrained life, has a husband who is absolutely obsessed with her, a lover who is willing to be responsible for her, she still refuses to accept her heart, even if she is suffering from cancer, she must continue to pursue wonderful love.
Because of her mother's "love but not", she forcibly defines herself as a victim of love, and her "lonely taste" lies in her distrust of love.
The second daughter, Ayu, achieved excellent results from an early age and became a famous plastic surgeon when she grew up. Her family is harmonious and beautiful, but she is wary of her husband, strict with her daughter, and single-mindedly wants to send her daughter to study in the United States.
Fortunately, the husband gentleman is generous and charming, and the daughter is well-behaved and obedient, but even so, there is still a natural melancholy and irritability in Ayu's heart.
Therefore, Ayu's "lonely taste" lies in the desire to control others, which is not unrelated to her mother's control of her since childhood. But life is originally uncontrollable, which is why Ayu's melancholy and irritability will always accompany her.
The third daughter, Ah Mei, was raised by others in the early years and now lives in Singapore, but Lin Xiuying's heart has always left a place for Ah Mei, and when she distributes gold to her daughters, she still thinks of Ah Mei.
Ah Mei also carried clearly, pregnant and still attended Chen Bochang's funeral, but when he spoke, he was still intimate and distant, and even when he called Lin Xiuying and Chen Bochang, he also politely called his uncle and aunt.
The third daughter and Chen Bochang's lover, Aunt Cai, have some similarities, and have tasted the loneliness of life, but they are decently polite to the people around them.
The youngest daughter, Jiajia, grew up living with her mother, and when she grew up, she gave up the opportunity to go to college and inherited her mother's shrimp roll restaurant. Her mode of getting along with her mother has a feeling of love and killing.
She loves her mother, but she also "dislikes" her mother, and even openly sided with her father's lover, Aunt Cai, and accused her mother of why she could not fulfill her father and Aunt Cai.
Jiajia's "lonely taste" lies in the "innocence" that is not deeply involved in the world, she has not experienced "hotel rape", does not know that the third sister was forced to give to others, and even her father has been a policeman and "stole" seals.
She only remembers the "star fudge" she bought her when she was a child, when she grew up, and before her father died.
The role of Jiajia is somewhat similar to xiaocheng, the daughter of the second sister, but in the face of the problem, Jiajia first thinks of blame and escape, while Xiaocheng thinks of understanding and solving.
Therefore, the departure of a man has left a bunch of women with a "lonely taste" full of sour, sweet and bitter. Fortunately, the film finally gives a way to resolve the "lonely taste", that is, to let go and reconcile.
When Lin Xiuying knew that Chen Bochang was still carrying the charge of stealing seals for her until her death, and even did not mention it to Cai Meilin, she finally understood that her love and Chen Bochang had existed, but she would also leave, and all she could do was to let go.
Therefore, on the day of Chen Bochang's funeral, she signed a divorce agreement that was many years late, giving up mrs. Chen's position and becoming a veritable Miss Lin.
Cai Meilin, who is nameless and undivided, finally became the righteous Mrs. Chen at Chen Bochang's funeral.
When the camera switches back and forth between the funeral and the taxi, when the identities of Tsai Meilin and Lin Xiuying are reversed, the music of "Lonely Taste" sounds very appropriately.
"The taste of youth is sour and sweet, and the sea life is gone."
If love is not possible, except for death and letting go of attachments, he may be able to reconcile with everything.
(Rotten Tomatoes Movie Editorial Department: Tian Xin)