Movie Digest
When the father and husband of the Ing family receive a terminal cancer diagnosis, everything changes. Although the son got accepted into a university to study abroad, he no longer knows what he wants to do with his life. The mother, who has been the son’s primary supporter, has become more isolated. The conflicted family decided to visit the father’s hometown for the ritual of tomb-sweeping. But there is now a brand new hotel in the place of the original mountain tomb.
The Feel-Good Part
There are many beautiful landscapes shown throughout the film. Some are along the streets with grand camphor trees woven with a cascade of ivy, standing silently. Some old neighborhoods seem to be sleeping behind moss-covered walls and defended by shadowed iron gates from a previous century.
The Disappointing Factor
There is confusion between the imaginary and reality as it all blended. It makes differentiating between the two difficult.
In-Depth Analysis
In Huang Zi’s poetic family drama All About ING, a small family that has experienced a medical emergency finds themselves pulled in numerous directions. The three members are perhaps in slightly different places. Each yearning for freedom from something or other but finding themselves bound by a sense of legacy while haunted by both the past and the future as they work to reorient themselves around their shared loss, looking for new ways forward while always looking back. This tender semi-autobiographical debut tells a dull yet upbeat tale about mortality and the adjustments made to family dynamics and balance because of a terminal illness. The film has three parts, the first and second of which focus on Muling (mother) and Yiming (son), respectively. The third part is the longest and is presumably about the father. It deviates into fantasy, which is out of step with the rest of the movie’s portrayal of everyday life. From the urban maze of Guangzhou to Weiming’s hometown village on a tiny island, the landscapes in the film are all drenched in a slow, wretched pain. Although there is suffering, there is also beauty. Due to the heavy use of handheld cameras, long shots, and close-ups, All About ING, despite being a drama, has the feel of a documentary. All About ING deals with death frequently, but it never came up in the movie. The entire time, the film use euphemisms, such as when a patient is dying in the adjacent room, blood is coughed up, a hospital bed is empty, or a funeral procession with men dressed in white from head to toe is taking place on an island. The most heartwarming parts of the movie are mainly in the ending, which is not one of death but of a rebirth of life.
Star Power
Hon-Man Ko as Weiming (father), Hang-Ying Pang as Muling (mother), and Howard Sit as Yiming (son) gave us good family dynamics. The main characters embodied various emotions well to deliver their best performances.
Overall Opinion
It is a great dramatic film that gives us a personal insight into the plight faced by the family. Highly recommend watching this film!
