Foreign Uncle

My quest to find short films that exemplify the structural and character-driven narrative that I espouse has been met: "Foreign Uncle" fits the bill perfectly. Everything about this 20-minute film is exceptional and offers an excellent example for the study of all films, not just short ones. It isn't message driven though it offers a valuable lesson if one is required. It isn't overly populated with tried-and-true cliches, even though it contains a few, the right number. It isn't hard-nosed American, nor is it tight-fisted Chinese. It is human. And as a study of two cultures exploring one another, it feels not just right but down-right perfect. It isn't struggling with the good, the bad, and the desperate to be found in the Foreign Uncle or in the family he is visiting. Instead, it is a carefully observed commentary on the expectations of one group (the matrons) and the acceptances in another (the nephew). Watching Sining's splendid short film is probably the best twenty minutes that I've had in a long, long time.

I loved it for beautiful acting of young Haozhe Wang. For atmosphere, crafted on cultural clash and discover each other, for fine definition of loneliness and for poetic end.

Returned to China, a young man presents his American boyfriend to family as a very good friends. The morning reveals to his mother the true relation between them , with predictable consequence.

Pure stranger , lonely, realising the trouble about his presence, the American guy comes to a walk in town. Not alone, because the nephew of his boyfriend perceives him as the great foreign uncle, being out of source of tensions in family.

The fine melancholical air , the gentle exploration of nuances, the beautiful acting - few virtues of this admirable short film.