Three Summers; 三个夏天

A lovely coming-of-age art house film, Three Summers took place in one of the tiny archipelagos off of Taiwan.  A succession of stories over three summers centered around a pair of siblings were told through the narratives of a bumpkin-like, tomboyish, tanned-to-the-bone island native: the adoring teenaged younger sister of the duo. The big brother (played by the incomparable Tony Leung Chiu Wai, 梁朝伟, or Liang Chao Wei in pinyin, in one of his best subdued, nuanced, pre-superstardom appearances), who had ventured off to make it big in Hong Kong, suddenly returned with a mysterious arm injury at the beginning of the first summer.

Part of the siblings' ancestral home serves as an eco-summer camp dormitory housing a dozen students. Campers farm, fish, swim, garden during the day and recite poetry, light Kongming lantern on the beach at night (孔明灯, hot air balloon-like paper lantern invented by famed military strategist 诸葛孔明 from the Three Kingdom era circa 220-280. Originally used as a means of communication, Lighting the Kongming lantern has become a well-wishing activity among the youth). Summer over summer, friendship and loyalty formed, love and disillusion interludes, dreams nurtured and crush nursed. 
A mosaic backdrop of Taiwan's ascend as an Asian economic tiger, through the campers and her big brother, our young narrator starts to yearn for a life of more than just marriage, fishing boats, maybe of college, office buildings, clubs and pizza. 
The pace of the movie is slow but comfortable. If most teenage-themed films are whitewater rafting, this one is a bamboo float meandering down a babbling brook. If you have seen one too many American teenage flix, you will no doubt find this film refreshing.
I'm not sure how seamless the brother's arc blends in here except it makes part of an authentic story. Turns out he was beaten up for taking up with a Hong Kong mafia's mistress. 
Screenplay by the one-and-only Sylvia Chang (Zhang AiJia, 张艾嘉). This is one talented lady whose many works as an actress, writer, producer and director we will sure to visit again and again. Supposedly the director Ang Lee (李安) once said this was his favorite indie film.

Chinese subtitles. Enjoy the film.