• Release year: 2024
• Director: Constance Tsang.
• Producers: Sally Sujin Oh, Eli Raskin and Tony Yang.
• Screenplay by: Constance Tsang.
• Cinematography by: Norm Li.
• Music by: Sami Jano.

Shotgun Commentary: slow melancholia at its best.

Review

Blue Sun Palace shows the aftermath of a tragedy and how those closest to the victim deal with the loss and with living the rest of their lives without her. The film focuses on the best friend and the love interest of the diseased. They find each other after the fact and aid one another on their grieving process. It’s an exploration of grief, solitude and facing the challenges that life presents when you least expect it.

Friendship and moving forward

Love and friendship are the main roots of the narrative, intertwined to tell the story of Amy (Ke-Xi Wu) and Cheung (Kang-sheng Lee), the best friend and lover, respectively, of Didi (Haipeng Xu). Amy’s story is universally relatable in terms of dealing with a friendship that has ended. In her case, the ending has been violent, abrupt, and involuntary. However, the aftermath is very similar to that of any friendship’s ending, she is left wondering what happened to all the plans she made with Didi for the future and how to face life without her main supporter in it.

In addition to this, Amy has to deal with feelings of guilt and isolation. As an immigrant, she doesn’t have that many connections around her and, those she has, are nowhere as close as Didi was, so she is starved for connection, anything that will remind her of Didi. This leads her to start a friendship with Cheung, the only other person who understands her grief.

Love and solitude

Cheung is a morally grey character. On the one hand, he is a grieving lover, devastated by the loss of Didi. On the other, he is an absent father and husband who spends his money on lovers his daughter’s age instead of paying for his mother’s hospital bills and his daughter’s wedding.

This duality represents the situation of many immigrants after years away from home. They keep sending money to their families out of a sense of obligation, but they have lost all interest in connecting with them, choosing people physically close over the relatives on the screen of their phone. Furthermore, it is a commentary on a sexist society where cheating on your partner is completely acceptable as long as you are a man. While Cheung doesn’t seem like a bad person, his actions and morality say otherwise. He focuses on all the wrong things, chasing after girls and completely ignoring his obligations.

The silent story

Both characters are very particular cases of grief that showcase very interesting aspects of the human condition. In Amy’s case, trying to overcome trauma and find yourself when your world is turned upside down. In Cheung’s, facing the reality of who you are. Both Wu and Lee portray their characters superbly. They silently act all the nuances that the text doesn’t say. Close-ups perfectly coordinated with the emotions of their eyes and the expressions on their faces.

The storytelling is a symbiosis between script, acting and cinematography. The latter being incredibly thought out. The camera shots are really expressive, the framing, angles and movements enhancing the character’s perspectives, and the contrasting colours creating a somewhat artistic version of a story that is as faithful to reality as it can get.

The only particular that could be seen as an issue is the pacing. While it is good to let this type of tale breathe in order for the audience to digest them slowly and to have some time to ponder them, there is such thing as too slow. The feature dances with the limit between enough and too much in this regard, probably making it challenging for some spectators to maintain their attention to it.

All in all, Blue Sun Palace is a gloomy account of grief, moving on, friendship and love. The characters are compelling and complex, and the storytelling is mostly on point. The perfect film for drama lovers.

Thanks to EIFF 2024 for big screen access!

Advice to take from this movie:

• Cheating is a disgusting habit that makes you a disgusting person.
• Don’t make a family if you are not willing to take responsibility for it.
• Never trust strangers. NEVER.

What’s your take? Have you watched Blue Sun Palace? Did you find any particular aspect specially fascinating?

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