You
could say Lin Shu-chi came of age with her country. She was a student democracy
activist during the period of martial law, but she expatriated to America just
when democratic reforms took root. Having returned home for her grandmother’s
funeral, Lin is not sure what she now thinks of herself or Taiwan in Sung Hsin-yin’s
wistful animated family drama, On
Happiness Road (trailer
here),
which screens during the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival.
Lin’s
family still lives at 168 Happiness Road. It sounds precious, but it has always
been a bustling working-class neighborhood. During her early childhood years,
Taiwan is still a rather poor and isolated country. In fact, she has quite a
fateful birthdate: April 5, 1975, the day Chiang Kai-shek died.
As
you might expect, there are not a lot of blonde little girls in Lin’s class,
which makes it quite intimidating for Betty Huang. However, Lin befriends the
bullied blonde when she needs it most. In fact, their friendship, renewed after
Lin’s return to Taiwan, is unquestionably one of the most endearing aspects of
the film. She also has quite a special relationship with her aboriginal
grandmother, who continues to offer sage tough love advice, even after her
death.
Sung
gets the balance of bitter and sweet just about right in Happiness, while still staying true to the messiness of life. Lin
makes all kinds of mistakes and has plenty of regrets, but it is easy for us to
understand how she got where she is (even if she’s rather confused about it
herself). Her relationships with her parents and aunts are realistically
complicated, but her friendship with Huang is downright redemptive.
Viewers
also get a keen sense of the Happiness Road neighborhood and the tenor of each
era Lin lives through. Sung manages to integrate quite a bit of Taiwanese
history into the film, in ways that always feel organic. Arguably, Sung’s only
missteps are Lin’s dreams and reveries, which somewhat overdo the trippy
flights of fancy in such and emotionally grounded film, but that is really a
minor mistake.
Gwei
Lun-mei gives a terrific vocal performance as the adult Lin, who happens to
bear some resemblance to the Taiwanese superstar. Sung’s animation is also warm
and nostalgic, in the right kind of way. Viewers might expect a predictable
narrative arc, but Sung constantly surprises us with unexpected tragedies and poignant
references back to her childhood. It is a lovely little film that real people
anywhere can relate to. Very highly recommended, On Happiness Road screens Sunday (7/8) at the Walter Reade, as part
of this year’s NYAFF.