A Drifting Life

An intensely moving directorial debut from Lin, hitherto best known as a comic actor in movies like Buddha Bless America. A family in rural Taiwan starts to break up when the son's young wife dies giving birth to her second child. The son Kun-Cheng (Lee) leaves home and drifts into another sexual relationship, but tries to be a good father to his kids and a tolerant, filial son to his parents, both of whom irritate the hell out of him. The storyline is minimal, but Lin builds up a commanding picture of the ways parents influence children and children resist parents. It's a film about cutting ties and mending ties, acted with total conviction and directed with light- handed control.