For the second year in a row, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) which took place between March 10 and March 19. As usual, the podcast will present John's and Jason's favorite films of OAFF 2023 (in addition to a general overview of the festival. Additional, this page includes short written reviews by John of all the OAFF movies he managed to see. ReviewsDay Off (Taiwan, 2023)Runtime: 107 minDirector: Fu Tien-YuStarring: LU Hsiao-fen, FU Meng-po, SHIH Ming-shuai, Annie CHEN, FANG Chih-yu Winner of the Yakushi Pearl Award for Lead Actor Lu Hsiao-fen A-rui is a veteran hairdresser (played by veteran actress Lu Hsiao-fen) who takes great pride in her work. She has turned her profession into a daily ritual, almost a religion, and it has become the greatest source of meaning in her life. But time is no one's friend, and in her old age A-rui begins to ruminate over the past and the life paths her children have taken. One day, she decides to take a day off to give a haircut to one of her old regulars who lives in a far away village. One could interpret "Day Off" as a tragedy, with A-rui slowing surrendering to the inevitable passage of time and the loss of any control over her children. The phrase "time really flies" is uttered many times throughout the movie, always with deep melancholy. However, one can't help but appreciate the way A-rui finds meaning and solace in her hairdressing (an otherwise "banal" activity), greatly amplified by Lu Hsiao-fen's fantastic performance in the film. In her hands, the scissors appear as an extension of her acting repertoire as the character has chosen to view every facet of her life through the lens of her profession. There's a poetic delight to her performance that inevitably mesmerizes the viewer. Perhaps to the film's detriment, none of the other characters (or actors) are as interesting, but that speaks primarily to the strength of the lead who justly won the Yakushi Pearl Award in the festival. The director makes an interesting choice to present parts of the film non-linearly without any obvious indications of the time cuts. In principle it is a technique that underscores the passage of time, a core theme of the film, but in practice it leads to a quite a bit of confusion, especially early in the film. It's a minor gripe, but a noticeable one nevertheless. Otherwise "Day Off" was one of the highlights of the festival, a beautiful meditation on the twilight of one generation and the dawn of another, all encompassed within an expertly told, bittersweet family drama.
Mar 21, 2023 • Subscribe
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