Jianjie (JJ) Lin's debut feature “Brief History of a Family” stood out in the programming at Sundance this year. The Chinese-Danish co-production – one of this year's nominees in the World Cinema – Dramatic competition – surrenders to ambiguity. Unlike the many straightforward narratives at this year's edition, the film remains mum on who's on the side of good and evil – and perhaps, that underlines the thrill of the movie.
“A Brief History of a Family” premiered at Sundance 2024, and will play in the Panorama of the 74th edition of Berlinale. World sales is managed by Films Boutique and the screening schedule is available here.
Here, the spoiled Tu Wei (Muran Lin) lives a happy, upper middle class life with his two parents (Ke-Yu Guo and Feng Zu). Things begin to change, however, when he takes a high school classmate, Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun) under his wing after an accident at a basketball court.
“A Brief History of a Family” premiered at Sundance 2024, and will play in the Panorama of the 74th edition of Berlinale. World sales is managed by Films Boutique and the screening schedule is available here.
Here, the spoiled Tu Wei (Muran Lin) lives a happy, upper middle class life with his two parents (Ke-Yu Guo and Feng Zu). Things begin to change, however, when he takes a high school classmate, Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun) under his wing after an accident at a basketball court.
- 2/16/2024
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Jianjie Lin’s Brief History of a Family is an immaculate sculpture, one of those art-film thrillers in which every element of every frame is under profound control. There’s no stray detail here, no spontaneous behavioral business for the audience to discover for itself.
The risk of this sort of film is lifelessness, as in any number of thrillers released each year by A24. But the potential benefit is a heightened suspense achieved by our implicit understanding that the filmmakers have the means and ability to do whatever they please. You’re in their hands, and they could be ready to work you over. Lin achieves and sustains this tension, as his eerie, underpopulated frames and pregnant foreshadowing create an understated unease.
Brief History of a Family opens with a medium shot of a teenage boy, Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun), attempting to do pull-ups on a playground. Shuo is...
The risk of this sort of film is lifelessness, as in any number of thrillers released each year by A24. But the potential benefit is a heightened suspense achieved by our implicit understanding that the filmmakers have the means and ability to do whatever they please. You’re in their hands, and they could be ready to work you over. Lin achieves and sustains this tension, as his eerie, underpopulated frames and pregnant foreshadowing create an understated unease.
Brief History of a Family opens with a medium shot of a teenage boy, Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun), attempting to do pull-ups on a playground. Shuo is...
- 1/29/2024
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
Children often complain about not being able to choose their parents, but the opposite is true as well, and rarely explored in fiction with the elegance and pithiness of Jianjie Lin’s directorial debut Brief History of a Family. Set in modern China, where the emerging middle class is trying to form an identity, the film presents us with two sets of characters whose stories become intertwined in unexpectedly powerful ways.
We first meet Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun) as he’s literally hanging for dear life while attempting a pull-up in the schoolyard. When he falls and hurts his knee, he’s taken to the nurse by Wei (Muran Lin), a fellow schoolmate who pities him. The two become fast friends, and soon Wei invites Yan Shuo over to play video games and talk about their lives.
Both boys––products of the controversial one-child policy used to control overpopulation in...
We first meet Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun) as he’s literally hanging for dear life while attempting a pull-up in the schoolyard. When he falls and hurts his knee, he’s taken to the nurse by Wei (Muran Lin), a fellow schoolmate who pities him. The two become fast friends, and soon Wei invites Yan Shuo over to play video games and talk about their lives.
Both boys––products of the controversial one-child policy used to control overpopulation in...
- 1/22/2024
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
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