Brief History of a Family

A boy makes a friend, and regrets it almost immediately in Lin Jianjie’s dramatic thriller.

Shuo (Sun Xilun) is a teenage boy with something of a miserable home life. His mother has passed away and his father neglects or beats him. He meets Wei (Lin Muran), a boy in his class, and the two spend time together at Wei’s house. There, he impresses Wei’s parents (Zu Feng and Guo Keyu) enough that he’s frequently invited back, with them even taking an interest in the drama happening in Shuo’s home.

Much like its main character, Brief History of Family is rather unassuming at first. It plays like a very mellow, slow-paced domestic drama about a boy who finds refuge in another family. The first half doesn’t really betray what exactly the film is about, occasionally choosing to sew hints and play unsettling music in places. Things only really come to a head much later, once Wei begins to suspect something is up with Shuo.

And this approach allows the film to let you do a lot of the work. By limiting the information we have, the film lets the audience form their own ideas. It would make a really good play, in that regard. There are very few settings, with almost all scenes taking place in the same house. The action and structure of the story works well for the format too, arguably better than it does than as a film.

That all of this is going on while the two boys are studying hard to make it into good schools, and to make national fencing teams is no coincidence either. The pressures on the family by societal and economic expectations play a powerful role in its breakdown and most of the events of the film.

Brief History of a Family is writer-director Lin Jianjie’s debut, and shows a lot of promise; a film that is a touch surreal and heightened, but mired so heavily in a reality he no doubt experience.  Add in some subdued but strong performances by the leads, especially Sun Xilun, whose blank-faced demeanour seems like a lazy acting choice until it becomes clear that it is the obvious way to play this character. Brief History of a Family might be a touch slow to start, but it quickly proves its intentions, even if its characters don’t always. Saltburn this is not.

Verdict: A Brief History of a Family is a strong directorial debut, if a somewhat slow and unsettling one.

Overall entertainment: 7/10
Violence: 1/10
Sex: 0/10
Pacing: 4/10
Visual choices: Loving those vein-like roads
Fencing: Plenty!
Watching someone die: That must be illegal, right?

Brief History of a Family (2024)
Also known as: 家庭简史
Mandarin

Director: Lin Jianjie
Writer: Lin Jianjie

CAST

Sun Xilun – Yan Shuo
Lin Muran – Wei
Zu Feng – Wei’s father
Guo Keyu – Wei’s mother