I wouldn't say that this movie is one of my favorite, since though aesthetically cinematographed, it at some times seems like a drag, in terms of the plot. But a few scenes touched me, and were reminiscent of my own childhood. As such, it is a great movie to see.
Personally I don't like the English title A Time to Die, A Time to Live, which a reviewer said reveals the tragedies bound to happen in this film. In fact, the Chinese title simply means childhood memories. Besides, the deaths are not like orchestrated by Hou to make the audience cry as in a tearjerker.
The scene of the mother's crying over the father's death seems natural to me. This might be a cultural difference so I don't blame western audience who failed to feel the pain as the mother did. For some, it might not be touching, but I did cry when the mother (Mei Feng) started crying. It's not at all like a laugh track.
Again, it's a cultural difference that makes the audience feel that there's too little interaction among Ah-ha and his parents and it makes little sense for the audience to feel empathized when the parents died. Even today, reservation is still a characteristic of many parents in Taiwan, especially in rural areas. The way they care about their kids is simple, and one way is cooking food for them (I don't see much of this in western movies). In this film, people don't say "I love you" often or hug everybody wholesale. The audience need to feel the (eastern or more politically correct, Taiwanese) older generation's way of expressing love through subtle details.
Personally I don't like the English title A Time to Die, A Time to Live, which a reviewer said reveals the tragedies bound to happen in this film. In fact, the Chinese title simply means childhood memories. Besides, the deaths are not like orchestrated by Hou to make the audience cry as in a tearjerker.
The scene of the mother's crying over the father's death seems natural to me. This might be a cultural difference so I don't blame western audience who failed to feel the pain as the mother did. For some, it might not be touching, but I did cry when the mother (Mei Feng) started crying. It's not at all like a laugh track.
Again, it's a cultural difference that makes the audience feel that there's too little interaction among Ah-ha and his parents and it makes little sense for the audience to feel empathized when the parents died. Even today, reservation is still a characteristic of many parents in Taiwan, especially in rural areas. The way they care about their kids is simple, and one way is cooking food for them (I don't see much of this in western movies). In this film, people don't say "I love you" often or hug everybody wholesale. The audience need to feel the (eastern or more politically correct, Taiwanese) older generation's way of expressing love through subtle details.