By Virginia Schneider
Los Angeles, CA, (The Hollywood Times), 2/28/25 — Erica Xia-Hou has created a sublime film about life, death and family. Banr (“Dear Departed”) tells the story of a married couple in China who having spent most of their lives together, suddenly face tragedy when the husband dies of a heart attack, leaving his wife in the throes of Alzheimer’s. Meanwhile their daughter, Yun Yun, must try to manage family affairs on her own.
(Photo: Slamdance.com)
Told in an imaginative non-linear storytelling style, the audience is taken through an almost documentary like presentation, as Xia-Hou has crafted this journey so honestly, so starkly, it’s as though we were watching a real family in the throes of this situation. We cut back and forth from past to present at first experiencing the struggle Yun Yun has in trying to do the most painful task a child can have— trying to convince her father that her mother needs professional help. As many families dealing with Alzheimer’s can attest, this is a bitter reality many are not able to accept. The same holds true for Yun Yun’s father, who insists he trusts no one other than himself with his dear wife’s care.
Even though many people are familiar with this struggle, Xia-Hou paints a viscerally unique approach that draws the audience into this family. One of her opening scenes is a brilliant touch, showing the husband leaving a video for his wife to watch, so she will remember who is. The frustrations and fears of the father, trying to manage a situation well beyond him, is both tender and relatable. We see the dangers his wife presents to herself and others until the husband finally realizes all the love in the world cannot enable one person to handle such a situation without professional help.
Shot entirely in China with non-professional actors and enriched by documentary-like realism, Xia-Hou creates a truthful, loving and engaging portrayal, without overindulgence of emotion or language. That realness is precisely what makes this film such a great one.
Expressive artistry is accomplished by Director of photography Deqiang Yuan who envelops the audience with wide reaching shots and beautiful tight images of the meaningful things in the couple’s life, pets, food, books. Written, directed and produced by the multi-talented Xia-Hou, and starring terrific non-actors Sui Li, Baoqing Li along with Erica Xia-Hou, this is a feast not to be missed.
