A Journey in Spring

Change comes with much difficulty into the life of a jaded elderly man, in this quite domestic drama.

Kim-hok (Jason King) is an elderly man who lives with his wife Tuan (Yang Kuei-mei) in an old house in the countryside, just on the edge of Taipei. Despite his occasionally haughty, old-fashioned attitude to his marriage, it’s very evident that he relies on his wife for a lot of things. When she suddenly passes away, Kim-hok understandably struggles with this, eventually opting to put her in the freezer until he can properly wrap his head around it. Despite this, he seems to live a perfectly normal life in denial – that is, until his estranged son comes to visit.

A Journey in Spring is a lot of things: it is quiet, meditative and highly introspective: it looks at a life well (or at least, long) -lived, the stubbornness of elderly men, and the helplessness one feels when a loved one is lost forever. What it isn’t is snappy.

While that’s easily explained as the film living at the same speed as its lead, this can be a bit frustrating at times, sometimes coming off more as exhaustingly slow in some scenes. It can easily straddle the line between contemplative drama and kind of just boring. Jason King and Yang Kuei-me are a large part of what makes A Journey in Spring better than I’m making it out to be, and keep their performances subtle but impactful. In her short time on screen Yang does a lot, setting us up for her loss by making her character feel invaluable to Kim-hok. It’s understated – sometimes a bit too much – but without this the film falls apart.

There’s something oddly cinematic about A Journey in Spring, and it’s not for the reasons you think. It’s beautifully shot on 16mm film, but outside of some exteriors its subjects are a little bit bland; where it does shine is in its sound design. The audio editing does a  fantastic job of cementing the audience firmly in the world that Kim-hok inhabits, between the cacophony of the city and calm solitude of nature.

And through this, the film reveals its entire thesis: the world between the rural and urban, between the calm and the chaotic. That’s where Kim-hok lives – in the crossroads between life and death, with no real idea which direction to head in. All of a sudden his house feels so much quieter, sadder. The world of the living is bustling and overwhelming, but the world of the dead isn’t ready for him yet. This poetic central point of view is where the film thrives.

Its pacing and subject might not be for everyone, but A Journey in Spring is a film that will appeal greatly to the right audience, in the right environment. And in many ways, this makes it more special; like its main character A Journey in Spring exists in its own time and place, and is perfectly happy there.

Verdict: While not a powerhouse of cinema, A Journey in Spring is a strong first film by its two directors, and one that both understands its subject and puts us right in his shoes.

A Journey in Spring screened as part of Queer East

Overall entertainment: 7/10
Violence: 0/10
Sex: 0/10
Drama: 5/10
Frames: A nice visual touch
Bookends: The 3-minute long shots of the waterfall is a brave choice, but it pays off

A Journey in Spring (2023)
Mandarin

Directors: Wang Ping-wen, Pen Tzu-hui
Writer: Yu Yin-hsun