Review

Yu Zheng-gao, a technician in a factory remarried Tao Ai-rong, who also brought a daughter to her second marrige. They quarrel frequently almost everyday even without a reason.

One day, Yu Xiao-qin, the daughter of Yu Zheng-gao, stole 5 yuan that his father had left by the window. The next day Yu Zheng-gao ransacked boxes and chests to look for the money. Tao Ai-rong thought that the father must have given the money to his consanguineous daughter Yu Xiao-qin, while the father doubted that the mother must be taking sides with her own daughter, Tao Lan. The real thief Yu Xiao-qin was so scared to be found out that she put the money under the pillow of Tao Lan. The money was found, and the mother felt so disgraced, basting Tao Lan.

On the way to school, Yu Xiao-qin sneered at Tao Lan, saying that nobody's gonna find out the truth. Tao Lan was so angry that she grabed a stick by chance and hit Yu Xiao-qin. Yu Xiao-qin was dead and the family was broken. The police took away Tao Lan, leaving the parents hysterical .

Seventeen years later...

On the morning of the Spring Festival's eve, the director of the jail announced the list of those who could go home to spend the holidays, according to the law. Tao Lan is fortunate enough to be on the list. This is the first time she has the chance to meet her family since she's been in jail and there's only one year left before she is released.

A police woman, Chen Jie is happy too, for she has not had a day off with her family during the past three years she has been working in the jail.

Tao Lan is so dissapointed to find out that no one picks her up in the station. She feels sad and lonely to be ignored by her own family. Chen Jie happens to pass by and decides to accompany Tao Lan. Being in jail for seventeen years, Tao Lan feels like a fish out of water in real life. Her parents look so old and unacquainted...

Seventeen Years won numerous prizes at international film festivals including Singapore, Gijon, and Venice, and this is the first film that director Zhang Yuan has been allowed to screen in his own country.

Both the story itself and the relationships among the characters are quite simple, the film touches the audiences mainly by its true feelings of love and remission inside people. Most of the actors and actresses in the film are non-professionals, which makes it more naturel, for the film deals with ordinary people and ordinary scenes.

Zhang Yuan claims that the main idea for the story just came by accident. One day, someone recommended that he watch a TV program about a criminal meeting his family after twenty years in jail. Zhang Yuan was so stunned by the scene that he decided to turn it into a film.

Now Seventeen Years is widely accepted by the audiences of the east and the west, though it is not typical of Chinese cinema. Some critics consider it rather boring and senseless, but the general public like it just for its flashing mildness of affection.

FilmFestivals.com reporter
Fanfan Ko