Yong bao da bai xiong

Good cinema often acts as a barometer of contemporary social morés and attitudes. Frequently, the more thoughtful film reveals or questions an emerging social malaise, unaddressed social issues, and ventures an explanation for the problems ailing society. One of the disturbing recurring themes of the present lot of international films is the abandonment, either emotional or actual, or both, of children by their parents. "Bear Hug" would be a companion piece to the remarkable and absolutely devastating Japanese film, "Nobody Knows".

In this film, seven year-old Dajun lives with his father and the father's ditsy actress girlfriend, while his parent's divorce is being finalized. His flight-attendant mother, oblivious to him, is preoccupied with planning her wedding to an American pilot. Dajun's reluctant caregiver is an over-weight teenage cousin, who is herself unwanted by her parents in their overcrowded apartment. Feisty, intelligent, and mischievous Dajun attempts manipulation of his elders to save his rapidly unraveling home life. His little child's mind believes that faked illnesses and abductions, or acting up at school should invite some parental scrutiny and attention (negative attention is still attention), to no avail. With increasing frustration and inventiveness, he escalates his ploys, hoping something will get through to his parents.

Darkly funny, yet overwhelmingly sad, in the way children are the innocent sufferers when a marriage goes sour. The young actors portraying Dajun and the overweight cousin are excellent. The West has often been thought to have a concentration of broken homes, so it is interesting to note similar stories coming out of Asia. Is this another aspect of globalization? Do see this film.