Growing up; 小毕的故事

You will never truly understand post-war contemporary Taiwan till you have watched this movie.
Towards the end of 1940s, the nationalists started to retreat to Taiwan. An overwhelming 1.5-2 million population made of mostly military personnel and their families landed there, expanding the island's total population by one quarter.
The solution for immediate accommodation was to throw all rank-and-file into blocks and blocks of tiny and connected residences sharing maze-like walkways, cooking fumes, noise from disciplining children and in many cases, even bathrooms.
These residential quarters are called 眷村 (Juancun). There were close to 700 of them in its heydays. Although literally means villages made of relatives a few degrees removed, 眷村 are really made of related non-relatives or unrelated relatives. Residents were only related in a sense that all the fathers served in the army together and were relatives because every few doors down the alley, there might be another family sharing the same ancestral roots. For Chinese, roots are traced back thousands of years and ancestry is such a relative term.
The most poignant contemporary Taiwanese subculture was born!
眷村文化 (Juancun culture) is a pastiche of Chinese regional and provincial cultures, dialects, cuisine, Peking opera, homesickness, customs and conventions frozen circa 1949. Part military base, part immigrant ghetto, part melting pot and part crucibles, Juancun culture originated as nostalgia out of denial but evolved into cohesion and resolve out of choice. So many of today's prominent figures in Taiwan came out of Juancun that its influence is still gathering momentum.
The story of Growing Up talks about a boy's experience in Juancun. As a child born out of wedlock, he moved there with his mom after she married a much older man with a reliable government job and a promise of giving the boy a good education. The stepfather proved to be kind and decent. However, the little boy only grew increasingly morose, insecure, recalcitrant and hostile by the year as if to personify the aggregate frustration of all Juancun dwellers. Facing mounting desperation, the mom kills herself as a quiet wake-up call for her son.
The movie was based on a novel of the same name. Zhu Tianwen (朱天文), its author adapted it into the screenplay. The actor playing the adolescent boy, Niu Chengze (钮承泽) has grown up to be a reputable Taiwanese director whose work I will introduce more very soon.

Chinese subtitles. Enjoy the movie.