Presented out of competition at the last Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Hsin-Yin Sung's On the happiness road tells the bittersweet return of Chi, a young Taiwanese, to the street of her childhood, while she finds herself in full existential doubt.
Born in Taipei, young director Hsin Yin SUNG studied film theory in Kyoto before obtaining a master's degree at Columbia College in Chicago. Before becoming a filmmaker and being able to make a living from it, she wore many hats: journalist, writer, karaoke employee in Kyoto… She first became known with short films, screened in international festivals (THE RED SHOES, SINGLE WALTZ). She won the Best Animated Film Award with THE RED SHOES at the Taipei Film Festival in 2013. At 44 years old, she returns today to present her first animated film, Happiness Road, which is intended to be a story of family, childhood friends, memories and feelings. An open window on the history of the island of Taiwan, little known in the West, very detailed. Let's take a look back at this first feature film.
Happiness Road
Original title: Happiness Road 幸福路上
Gender: Drama – family
Duration: 1h 51m
Release date: January 5, 2018 (Taiwan) – August 1, 2018 (France)
Director: Hsin Yin Sung
Producer: Sylvia Feng
Original soundtrack: Wen Tzu-chieh
Scenario: Hsin Yin Sung
Synopsis
A universal existential doubt…
Tchi is a child full of vitality and dreams, but here it is… Tchi grew up, and as with most of us, the transition to adulthood was one of sacrifice and compromise. She goes to the USA to work and live the American dream of her parents who saw her "earn a lot of dollars", marries a Westerner and leads her quiet little life in a suburb without relief. But one day, the phone rings: her beloved grandmother has just passed away and she must return as soon as possible for the funeral ceremony. This return to the roots is an opportunity for Tchi to introspect and many flashbacks. What happened to this mischievous little girl full of dreams? She, who worked hard in school, demonstrated for civil rights, then wrote in a newspaper before leaving to live the American dream and get married, free of traditions? What does she want now?
However, this return to Happiness road leads to an emotional tsunami for the young woman who, at the dawn of her thirties, realizes that nothing has gone as she wished.
She misses her family and friends and seems less and less in tune with her husband. The clash of cultures is not far away. Will she choose the path of emancipation or return to the traditional family fold?
… Stuck in good-natured sentimentalism
After a commendable questioning and a good start, the film gradually gets bogged down in a sentimentalism and especially a most boring traditionalism. While we expected a film with modern remarks with a real reflection on the place of women in Taiwanese society, it is quite the opposite that happens. We do notice a certain evolution of society, but without critical hindsight, which is also explained by the final dedication. We finally find ourselves in front of the moods of a young woman who, afraid of the future, takes refuge in her childhood memories without really confronting what really concerns her. To believe that in our time, and despite the female models increasingly put forward throughout the world, the salvation of women passes only through motherhood … Not very modern all that. We still appreciate the appearances of the grandmother, the Tchi child and the colorful dreams of the little girl who brings dreaminess to the whole.
Thus, we wonder about the message of this story… If the ultimate success of a woman's life is seen in her accomplishments, experiences and studies… What are the social conquests of women worth since the end of the nineteenth century and especially in the twentieth and nineteenth centuries?
Happiness road disappoints with an out-of-age and uninspiring statement for the younger generations. The first part is however very good and augured the best. We would have liked to see Tchi take off to realize at least one of his dreams, but also to see a better evocation of the segregation of indigenous peoples and political developments (no dates mentioned for example, nor geo-political contextualization). For a first film it's not so bad, but for a subject so well known to the director, we would have appreciated more punch and reflection.
