BRFF 2020 Short Film Review “Where Do You Come From?”
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW
WATCH THE FILM HERE with all proceeds going to the filmmakers!
First, the Recap:
It’s one of the most common queries we come across in our lives, one encompassed by a single word–where. Does it refer to wanting to know the location of an incident, or a place to meet friends, or the first discovery of a destination we intend to travel to? More so, is it applied to ourselves and the desire to learn and face that which sometimes is not always easy to entertain–our own heritage and the scars that we may carry from it. It’s the lessons of who we are and, indeed, where we come from.
Next, my Mind:
Encapsulated into a 15-minute short film screened at the 2020 Berlin Revolution Film Festival, we take a journey into the lives of multiple individuals seeking reconciliation and further understanding of their birth, their upbringing, and the lasting effects their roads traveled have left within them thanks to writer/director/producer Jun-Yuan Hong. It’s a necessary glimpse into the reality that, even though we might know this already, not everyone has the benefit of having a home life growing up that was perfect or mainly without strife.
Here, we are given multiple people who herald from a more broken environment, and as such, the ghosts of their plights continue to resonate within them, perhaps still shaping the men and women they’ve become, or pushing them to take the needed steps to better, to overcome, the obstacles they encountered then so as to rise above it and be something greater. It’s a well-conceived intermixing of fiction with truth thanks to the actors who appear here, many of whom actually had come from splintered households and so this could even be cathartic for them to see their inner pain expressed in this manner. The film does a great job by starting with each individual gazing at their baby picture to set the stage.
But, I felt there was also amidst the personal turmoil expressed at least some sense of rejuvenation, a means to show that even among the harshest of circumstances these people endured, there can be freedom and newfound value and purpose, escaping from under the weight of overt discipline, beleaguering expectations, failure to perform to “standard”, and other images of oppression that were a part of their lives. It’s a bold reflection of life that not just anyone can relate to, but yet can find the intrinsic value of in being made aware that there are places and people out there who very much need a more solid foundation to stand on and inward healing.
Maybe this is what this critic most hopes comes out of filmgoers watching this, that they will step away with a more lucid realization of just how broken families and those associated with them need to be mended. We might even know some who are in such situations and should this be a wake-up call for us to acknowledge in a more proactive, tangible way, then being spurred to action is a possible side effect of this film. Additionally, there is an undercurrent within this film’s narrative of social alienation and ethnic/class discrimination as well, which becomes another facet of needed action on our part as human beings to see an end to this as well.
Full credit is provided on my part to all the actors who took part in this via intentionally undefined roles, meaning no specific character names as such, for they very much embody the atmosphere of what Hong intended to portray. Hence, an acting shout-out to Han Hou, I-Fen Kuo, Chih-Ching Hsieh, Fang-Chin Shih, Morgan Wu, Po-Tan Chen, Yu-Chu Lin, and any others I may have missed, for your performances without words or dialogue (a common occurrence in BRFF’s 2020 line-up) still spoke volumes to the themes and purposes the film was made for. I think non-verbal, body-language-based acting truly is more impactful when done right, allowing actions and expression to speak louder than words, which does happen here.
So, in total, with its raw emotion and odes to upbringings, hard actualities, and the lingering aftermaths of familial legacy, “Where Do You Come From?” should be that awareness-raising call to all our lives, recollecting the values, traits, and knowledge we’ve gained throughout our experiences to date in the hopes that any walls or mountains that stand between us and life fulfillment can be conquered, leading to healing, deeper connection, and more appreciation of the uniqueness and validity of our journeys as human beings.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!