A Summer at Grandpa's (Hou, 1984): ICA Cinema, 5.30pm
This is a 35mm screening, part of the Celluloid on Sunday strand at the ICA.
Time Out review:
Young Tung-Tung and his little sister spend the vacation with their
grandparents while mother lies sick in hospital. It's an eventful stay,
but Hou Hsiao-hsien never opts for melodrama, and at first his quietly amused
observation of events seems to border on the inconsequential. Not so,
however. What makes the film so affecting is its unflinching honesty. As
boy and girl take time off from playing games to become barely
comprehending witnesses to the adult world, the film examines, with
precision and wit, both the innocence and the unthinking cruelty of
childhood. But life among the grown-ups is no better, and the children
are confronted with violence, crime, sexual passion, and the presence of
death. It's a clear-eyed movie, never sentimental, always intelligent
and revealing.
Geoff Andrew
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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