Chinese director and screenwriter Lin Jianjie unpacks the psychic trauma of his country’s one-child policy in this feature directorial debut, exploring the tension and guilt rife within a seemingly idyllic middle-class family.
★★★☆☆
While showing enormous promise for a debut film, Lin Jianjie’s approach to Brief History of a Family is both emboldened and hindered by its stylisation. The strict formalism on display sets up a detached, icy depiction of familial strife in an unnerving thriller that has — for good reason — been associated by viewers with The Talented Mr. Ripley and Saltburn. All three films deal with an outsider infiltrating what was once a tight-knit group, leaving viewers to question their intentions for the duration of this uneasy experience.
In this case, Yan Shuo (Sun Xilun) gradually becomes part of a family unit that has been scarred by China’s one-child policy. In the aftermath of that era, the parents of the sullen, disrespectful and undisciplined teen Tu Wei (Lin Muran) are struggling to make sense of their son being a disappointment, especially as this new surrogate child emerges into their lives. Shuo’s mother died during childbirth, while his father is an alcoholic who beats his teen son. Trapped in this unfortunate circumstance, he is painfully withdrawn, hardly ever showing a hint of emotion throughout this film.
The interactions between Shuo and Wei are hard to decipher, owing to the odd mix of competitiveness and friendliness that they exhibit. This silent battle between the pair stems from Wei’s fears that Shuo is becoming the son his parents wished they’d had, yet it’s impossible to say whether this transformation is real or imagined when so little is said by either character. Even if he doesn’t outwardly show it, Shuo is desperate to carve out a space for himself in his new family. But even here there is an iciness to the simplest of exchanges, with a figurative pall cast over each member of this cast. Gradually, the four key players in this tightly wound, intimate drama must confront their silent burdens and traumas.
The end result is as impressive as it is undercooked. Jianjie’s camerawork is consistently inventive, with slow-motion sequences, clever panning, and shots composed entirely of a small circle of colour amidst a black backdrop. Each visual element in this meticulously crafted film doesn’t just feel fresh, it’s essential to a narrative that is so sparse with its dialogue. Those seeking definitive answers or strongly-worded exchanges will be sorely disappointed by what Brief History of a Family has to offer, with this director revelling in slow burn ambiguity throughout his debut feature. Thankfully, that’s accompanied by feelings of tension that are so palpable it’s almost as if they exist as another core member of this film’s cast.
Jianjie expertly conveys these characters’ rigid behaviour and even more importantly, their emotional fragility lurking under the surface. A relentless use of restraint, ironically, is what makes Brief History of a Family feel so ambitious. There are much more straight-forward ways of presenting this plot and its themes, but instead, Jianjie opts for an experience that expresses its tension through lingering silences or the fraying façade of empty conversations and hard-to-read expressions.
Though this film presents a bright future ahead for its director, less positive deductions can be drawn from his screenplay. Buried emotions are well worth exploring, but a cold approach towards rigid characters can only go so far in unlocking what lies beneath this icy exterior. Brief History of a Family is excellent when it comes to hinting at its themes, whether that’s the harrowing psychological effects of China’s one-child policy or Shuo’s possible ulterior motives, but its threadbare script provides no outlet for developing them.
Instead, the film takes ambiguity to an absurd level, offering little to chew on regarding whether or not Shuo is duplicitous. The longer he spends in the company of Wei’s mother (Guo Keyu) and father (Zu Feng), the more Wei distrusts this new arrival’s intentions. The death of Shuo’s father, which is deemed an accident, becomes a source of curiosity for the envious and skeptical Wei. Is he simply trying to remedy the fact that this adoptee appears to have taken his place in their family? Or are there sinister elements lurking beneath Shuo’s benevolent, vulnerable exterior?
This script offers few hints for either interpretation to linger in viewers’ minds, choosing instead to pry its ambiguity from the most minor of interactions. Even the film’s visual style suffers on occasion, with some overbearing slow-motion sequences, a technique that is often overused to make up for the film’s hollow plotting. The only consistently high point here is composer Toke Brorson Odin’s score, which is varied both in terms of genre and the emotions it seeks to convey, yet never feels too eclectic for its own good. His compositions compliment each scene and amplify the weight of the repressed emotions at this movie’s core. As for the rest of this experience, despite showing enormous potential from its budding director, Brief History of a Family fails to sustain — let alone elevate — its momentum by the film’s denouement, petering out with little intrigue or emotional resonance.
The Verdict
Assured direction and inventive camerawork can only go so far in this stylised family drama, whose screenplay is too aloof and underwritten to be truly compelling. Brief History of a Family certainly keeps viewers guessing, but misses out on deepening that sense of intrigue in its latter half.
Words by Cian McGrath
Brief History of a Family is in UK cinemas from 21 March, and Irish cinemas from 26 March
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