A Place of One's Own 一席之地

The story takes us on a journey through the complex lives and afterlives of an interwoven cast of characters in two parallel storylines. Two young musicians struggle with their careers and their relationship while a family of three lives near a graveyard, working hard to earn a living and confronting a deadly disease.

Musician Mo-zi (Mo Tzu-yi) is a washed-up guitarist and singer forced to distribute his band's album himself. To make things worse, his live-in girlfriend Kasey (Lu Chia-hsin), is a music star on the rise with a best-selling album and a growing legion of fans.

As Kasey's career takes off, Mo-zi struggles to pay off debts and faces eviction. Their relationship strained, Mo-zi refuses to accept any help from Kasey. He even rejects the song she writes for him every year on his birthday.

The musicians' relationship provides a memorable soundtrack of Mo-zi's rock songs and Kasey's pop tunes. But it is the feelings of the musicians that are most striking.

In another part of town, Lou introduces the audience to a man who makes funereal origami houses constructed of bamboo and paper and intended to provide people a small, elaborate dwelling for the afterlife. Lin (Jack Kao) lives near a cemetery with his wife A-yue (Lu Yi-ching) and son Gang (Tang Zhen-gang); death is an integral part of the family's life and work. The origami houses Lin makes are colorful, intricately beautiful works of art. The houses are so detailed, one designed for a gangster includes a miniature safe, security cameras, body guards, and a life-size gun in each room.

Lin's wife, A-yue works in the graveyard, taking care of tombs and offering flowers on behalf of families of the dead. She also speaks with the spirits that roam around the cemetery.

The couple's son Gang is an online-gaming nerd, who we first see dressed in a tiger costume. Not only is he forced to publicly humiliate himself on a daily basis, his mother won't quit nagging him to get a real job rather than hand out flyers outside a real estate agency.

Director Lou poignantly examines this idea of dwelling places, as Lin creates dazzling paper houses destined to be destroyed in ceremonial flames. The importance of dwelling spaces extends to the graveyard, where good feng-shui is believed to protect both the dead and the living.

When Lin is diagnosed with cancer, the family needs money for his treatment. Lin doesn't want the expensive medical care, and starts to build himself a luxurious origami palace where he can live after his death, complete with room for his wife and son. In a desperate attempt to help his dying father, Gang tries to get a job in the real estate company, and promises that he will be successful. When Gang manages to sell his first flat, it triggers a chain reaction. Whether alive or dead, all Lou's characters face unpredictable changes, particularly concerning living spaces.

Initially, it seems strange why the two seemingly unrelated stories are combined in one film, but soon the intriguing connections between the characters are revealed. Ultimately, it all falls into place.

The Chinese title of “A Place of One's Own” literally means “a very small space,” but the name can also represent “a piece of property” or “one's status or position in society.” The film revolves around the many meanings of this term: some characters accumulate great fortunes, while some never find a place to settle down. There are also those living amongst the dead in graveyards, who aspire to luxury dwellings both in this life and beyond.

At the end of the film, the characters who seek answers in superstitions do not necessarily find themselves. Through their searching, Lou unfurls an emotional tale of the desire for a place to call home.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email