X
- Karma Films
- 1 h 39 m
- Karma Films
- 1 h 39 m
Summary In post one-child policy China, a middle-class family’s fate becomes intertwined with their only son’s enigmatic new friend, putting unspoken secrets, unmet expectations, and untended emotions under the microscope.
Directed By: Jianjie Lin
Written By: Jianjie Lin
- Karma Films
- 1 h 39 m
- Karma Films
- 1 h 39 m
Brief History of a Family
75
User Score
User reviews are not available yet
Summary In post one-child policy China, a middle-class family’s fate becomes intertwined with their only son’s enigmatic new friend, putting unspoken secrets, unmet expectations, and untended emotions under the microscope.
Directed By: Jianjie Lin
Written By: Jianjie Lin
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
75
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
75
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
While bereft of the lurid pleasures that have propelled Saltburn to its ubiquitous social media popularity, Brief History Of A Family is nevertheless a smart and engaging debut feature, and preferable since it has something of value to communicate to audiences.
It’s a film about the chaos of creation, about the violence that occurs in the creation of new worlds, deftly playing with genres to endlessly fascinating means.
With its intriguing performances, narrative restraint and unanswered questions, the movie delivers a strong pull of yearning as well as tantalizing currents of suspicion and dread.
It is a premise that facilitates a forensic examination of China’s family planning model within the quasi-futuristic trappings of its urbanised present. It is also paradoxically highly specific in its subject yet incredibly difficult to pin down in terms of its broader identity, as it skilfully skirts genre lines.
Crafted with such delightful suspense that you can’t help but smile as you squirm, Brief History of a Family pulls from plenty of genre influences (its have/have-not friction and affluent apartment confines will be familiar to Parasite fans) to construct a tight dramatic metaphor encompassing Chinese parenting values and the end of a sociopolitical era.
The film’s pregnant foreshadowing is revealed to be misdirection, the promise of a thriller offered as candy to lure us into a consideration of the tensions that can cast a pall over family life.
The ultimate ambiguity might be enough for some to praise Lin's work, but there's simply not enough to chew on by the end of the story for it to be a resounding success.
User Reviews
tbd
Production Company
First Light Pictures (Chengdu)
Duration 1 h 39 m
Awards
Beijing International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Berlin International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination