The Taste Of Rice Flower
米花之味
Director: Pengfei Song, Writer: Pengfei Song, Ze Ying, Producer: Rebecca Ho, Cast: Yefei Bao, Honglin Cha, Yayun Deng, Qifang Feng, Jizhe Guo
A young single mother of Dai minority named Ye Nan returns from Shanghai to her scenic home village at Sino-Burmese border. She tries to assimilate back into her clan and make amends for the tense relationship between her and her daughter, Nan Hang. During one of their quarrels, the rebellious teenage girl rants questions about why one must relocate to cities to compete for the best colleges and jobs rather than stay in their countryside ancestral homes and farm for a living. Reflecting on a series of setbacks, Ye Nan gradually gives in to learning about Nan Hang’s life instead of disciplining her. After Nan Hang’s partner-in-crime schoolfriend who’s also a left-behind child passes away from untreated illness, the villagers believe they’re influenced by a devil and decide to perform a ritual to worship the local stone Buddha. As they dance outside the 250-million-year-old karst cave temple, whose gate is closed for non-business hours, a plane flies across the sky above them, and Ye Nan sees an opportunity to reconcile with her daughter.
FLIM FESTIVAL AND AWARDS
Venice Film Festival Asian Pacific Screen Awards
New Era Film Festival Vesoul Asian Film Festival
Chinese Film Media Awards Pingyao International Film Festival
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“…isolation, miscommunication, and mysterious moments of grace abound in a China characterized by ceaseless conflict between tradition and modernity. Beautiful, wise and lyrically resonant, “The Taste of Rice Flower” is rigorously unsentimental, but its heart is bright with life, like a swooning dance of devotion performed in a limestone cave; like a butterfly held in a light, firm grasp.”
“flows like a cool mountain stream…highlights ethnic diversity and addresses the social costs of urban migration (i.e. “left-behind children”)...touching upon the theme of China’s urban-rural divide, “The Taste of Rice Flower” is a rather unique member of the genre. Much like the Dai people it portrays, it is an embodiment of syncretism — of social issues, artistic purity, and the natural splendor of its frontier environment.”
“beautiful, bittersweet, astute and agreeable.Taste of Rice Flower doesn’t offer sloppy moral judgments and hackneyed melodrama. Refusing to cede ground to convenient exoticism, Pengfei acknowledges the hybrid culture and values emerging out of communities where traditions and technology clash — a collision illustrated often to deadpan but undoubtedly hilarious effect.”
“Pengfei embroiders local folklore, rituals and myths into the story of a mother’s attempt to reconcile, without fetishizing it.”
“a simple parable but never drifts into melodrama or cliche…The humour is often subtle but effective, and Liao Pen-jung’s ravishing visuals find beauty in everyday life in a thoughtful and subtle insight into contemporary China.”
“a meaningful, entertaining, and very beautiful film that manages to present a number of very serious topics through an enjoyable perspective that makes the film quite approachable”
“A lyrical interrogation about the social price of China’s economic miracle told through the relationship between a mother and her daughter.”