Preface#
While relaxing and listening to a podcast over the weekend, I stumbled upon a movie poster that seemed to strike me. The poster featured the ocean as a backdrop, looking very beautiful. Upon seeing the title, "The Red Horse in the Summer Sky," I was intrigued by the odd name and decided to search online. I found out that this film was released in Taiwan on December 23, 2022, in areas including Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Tainan, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. The director is the renowned Taiwanese director Chang Tso-chi, and this film also earned him a nomination for Best Director at the 59th Golden Horse Awards.
The film did not create any waves on the internet in mainland China. Besides the fact that it was not screened in domestic theaters, the film's subject matter was too niche, and it did not receive much attention even in the Taiwanese film industry. I checked its Douban rating, which was only 5.0, with nearly half of the users giving it one or two stars. Many reviews reflected sentiments like "I don't know what it's about, I can't understand it," "It's so boring, feels like there's no plot," and "The sounds of snoring from the back row of the cinema" (Taiwanese moviegoers are quite funny 😂). This seems to contrast sharply with the awards the film received. What kind of magic does this film possess to garner so many negative reviews despite such a small viewing audience?
Curious, I found a source to watch the film and wanted to see what story "The Red Horse in the Summer Sky" actually tells. Another reason I was eager to explore it was because of the poster, which seemed to have a magical allure, pulling me into this ordinary yet extraordinary story...
Plot Summary#
The girl A-Zhen leaves home and arrives at a seaside town in search of her biological father, whom she has never met. In the town, she meets three brothers: A-Han, A-Ting, and A-Liang. Their mother is seriously ill and has been in a nursing home for years. Their father takes the three brothers to visit their mother every day, pulling them along with a rope. Day after day, until they receive the news of their mother's passing... Under the summer sky, with the blazing sun overhead, after spending a few days with this family, A-Zhen's mother suddenly arrives, breaking the tranquility of the town. It turns out that A-Zhen's journey seems to be more than just a simple search for her father; she appears to have many unexplainable stories, and ultimately, she leaves without saying goodbye. After her mother departs, the four of them continue to live their ordinary lives.
Cinematic Style and Language#
"The Red Horse in the Summer Sky" fully showcases director Chang Tso-chi's highly personal visual style. There are numerous wide shots that allow the camera to gaze at the sky, the ocean view, streetlights, drifting trash, and that red horse balloon. The father and three sons have different ways of interacting; the eldest brother A-Wei rarely returns home, yet his longing for home is still evident in the limited screen time; the second brother A-Ting, though intellectually disabled, constantly worries about their bedridden mother; the youngest brother A-Liang, who is the "extra" member of the family, enjoys painting and often gazes at the sky, yet he also faces his own life's bitterness and helplessness. There is also the girl Xie Huizhen, who mistakenly identifies the father; her relationships with her mother and ex-boyfriend present an unsolvable dilemma.
The film features many thoughtful set designs, with the director incorporating vast landscapes as canvases and very few characters as embellishments, presenting them to the audience. The overall tone of the film is quite somber, heavily utilizing a Japanese-style hazy filter, which keeps the emotional tone of the film calm and even accentuates the sadness and emptiness.
In addition to its unique set design, the film intersperses many seemingly useless, even nonsensical, shots throughout the narrative. For instance, at the beginning of the film, nearly four minutes are spent filming the coastline, capturing layer upon layer of waves. Later in the film, there are many shots of landscapes, such as overgrown forests, the hazy sea at night, and lakes filled with trash. Many might think this is nothing special; many art films use scenery to transition between scenes. However, what sets "The Red Horse in the Summer Sky" apart is that each scenic segment is given a long duration and has no causal or thematic connection to the story's development, making the film's pace very slow. During my viewing, I even found myself immersed in the film's scenery, gradually forgetting that I was there to explore the story's progression.
Profound and Meaningful Plot Setting#
The Conflict Between Girl Xie Huizhen and Father Chen Youming#
In addition to establishing a calm yet highly infectious tone visually, the film's narrative technique and perspective imbue it with the essence of everyday life while embedding a heavy and somber atmosphere within. The protagonists are a father living in a remote seaside town and his three sons. The eldest brother A-Wei, around 20 years old, rarely returns home and works outside, primarily helping others with paperwork and odd jobs; the second brother A-Ting is intellectually disabled and cannot care for himself, but he is pure-hearted; the youngest brother A-Liang, about sixteen or seventeen, enjoys painting and often sits by the sea gazing at the sky, taking care of his intellectually disabled brother while feeling very inferior, always thinking of himself as "extra." The father Chen Youming is a worker operating an excavator on a construction site, earning a meager salary. His wife, who was not very intelligent in her early years, unfortunately fell into the water and became a vegetable, lying in a nursing home for years. However, Chen Youming loves his wife dearly and is very strict with his three sons, especially regarding their attitude towards their mother. The female lead Xie Huizhen is a girl who loves to fantasize but is strictly required by her mother to take care of her disabled brother. She is also informed by her mother that her biological father is Chen Youming, so she rides her bicycle, leaving her brother behind, to this remote seaside town to find her biological father, and thus the story unfolds.
I want to say that this type of subject matter, if following conventions or established logic, could certainly be made very touching. We could even speculate on the plot's development: the girl confronts her estranged biological father, tensions rise, and ultimately, she is moved, understands her father, and they embrace in a happy ending. However, "The Red Horse in the Summer Sky" does not include any of this; it does not follow such a succinct plot line but unfolds at a very natural and slow pace, with no expected arguments or heightened conflicts. When the girl Xie Huizhen meets her long-lost biological father Chen Youming, there is no hatred; she simply wants to see her father, to see the home he lives in now and her blood-related brothers. Chen Youming initially shows some impatience but knows deep down that he is in the wrong and is filled with guilt, silently singing in a simple rural KTV, his voice hoarse and completely off-key, expressing emotions he has never articulated. Meanwhile, the girl does not chase after him for explanations or compensation; she simply rides her bicycle through the countryside, watching her brother go out to fish, observing her father at work, listening to him sing, and sitting in her father's shabby rural home, feeling the warmth of family. Ultimately, the film's central conflict subtly concludes during a scene celebrating the second brother A-Ting's birthday, where everyone gathers to celebrate, singing birthday songs. Xie Huizhen happily sits aside, taking photos with her phone, her face showing joy and happiness. In the film, she says, "She has never felt this way before." The film omits many cumbersome plot setups and instead highlights through this segment that the father has accepted this daughter, acknowledged her as his own kin, and embraced the ties of family, while also introducing one of the film's main themes—the love of family can transcend time and even death.
Do Family Ties Restrict Our Freedom in Life?#
After watching the entire film, upon reflection, a significant portion of it narrates the ties between family members: the bond between Chen Youming and his wife in a vegetative state, the bond between Chen Youming and his three sons, the bond between Xie Huizhen and Chen Youming, and the bond between Xie Huizhen and her disabled brother. When we analyze these ties, we find that the characters' fates seem forever trapped in this seaside town, facing the cycle of life and death. This town seems to symbolize a cage, a prison that confines everyone. Even if you have not lived there, this bond pulls you back into the cage.
The film also features many dialogues that hint at these metaphors. For example, the youngest brother A-Liang suddenly tells his father, "Mom is suffering; let her be free." Upon hearing this, Chen Youming becomes furious, scolding A-Liang, "She is your mother, who raised you!" In another instance, Xie Huizhen's ex-boyfriend angrily leaves her, shouting, "This is how you are; you can't let go of your brother, right? You'll always be like this!" Additionally, when the second brother A-Ting accidentally soils his clothes, father Chen Youming angrily slaps A-Liang, scolding, "How many times have I told you? He is your brother; why can't you take care of him?" These familial ties act like a rope, binding everyone involved, just as Chen Youming said to his wife before she passed away, "I have taken good care of them; I tied them to me with a rope so they won't get lost."
However, do these familial ties truly bring happiness to those deeply entangled in them? The disabled brother, whom Xie Huizhen cares for, desperately wants to die, pushing his wheelchair toward the lake to seek an end. Xie Huizhen tightly holds onto the wheelchair, crying and shouting, while her brother continues to scream, "Let go! Let me go!!" This is deeply shocking. Furthermore, the four of them visit their unconscious mother in the nursing home every week while living in extreme poverty. Besides operating the excavator, Chen Youming spends his remaining time sitting in front of a shabby television, singing off-key. The eldest brother does not want to stay home and always finds excuses to work outside, while the second brother A-Ting and the youngest brother A-Liang spend their days idly by the sea, painting and fishing. Each person's life is fixed, lacking vitality and happiness, filled only with helplessness and heaviness.
This seems to contradict the film's theme of "family ties," but upon closer thought, things always have two sides. The bonds of family provide us with comfort and companionship, yet they also tightly lock each person's fate, restricting our freedom and individuality. Perhaps the eldest brother A-Wei attempts to break free from this bondage, escaping the cage formed by these ties, which is why he chooses not to return home often. Director Chang Tso-chi cleverly embeds such profound and contradictory themes within the ordinary narrative, waiting for the audience to uncover them.
What Exactly is the "Red Horse"?#
The film is titled "The Red Horse in the Summer Sky," so where is the red horse in the film? If you watch closely, you'll find that the "red horse" appears very few times. It can even be overlooked. The red horse first appears when the girl Xie Huizhen and her ex-boyfriend choose a large inflatable red horse among a pile of amusement toys. They then take the horse to the seaside, but the ex-boyfriend argues with her because she cannot let go of her disabled brother. He picks up a toy gun filled with BB pellets and shoots the "red horse," causing it to deflate and drift away with the waves, leaving Xie Huizhen standing there, crying. After that, the "red horse" seems to disappear entirely, only to reappear at the very end of the film, floating to the lake by the home of the four family members. The second brother A-Ting is interested in the "red horse," so the youngest brother A-Liang retrieves it to repair and inflate it. The "red horse" rises again, and the youngest brother walks along the beach with the "red horse" floating in the sky, as the film slowly concludes.
Many viewers, including myself, felt puzzled, wondering, "Is this the 'red horse'? Is this how it ends?" It left us scratching our heads. However, after finishing the film and reflecting on these segments, I began to grasp the director's intention and understand what the "red horse" truly represents. The "red horse" can be interpreted in many ways. My view is that the red horse symbolizes the characters' ultimate resolution of their inner conflicts and pain after being trapped by the ties of "family." Initially, the "red horse" is deflated and lifeless, drifting with the waves, symbolizing the characters' plight in the first half of the film—whether it is Chen Youming, who is deeply mired in poverty, burdened by the pressure of his wife's vegetative state and his underage children, or Xie Huizhen, who is desperately searching for her biological father while being constrained by her family. Just like the deflated "red horse," they have lost the courage to fight against life, lost hope for tomorrow, surrendering their fate to the waves.
In contrast, the "red horse" that rises back into the sky seems to reflect the characters' regained confidence in life and renewed hope for tomorrow in the latter half of the film. Over a year later, after Xie Huizhen leaves the town and starts a new life, she gets married, and her child is about one or two years old. While crossing a traffic light, she unexpectedly encounters her brothers A-Ting and A-Liang on a crowded crosswalk. They do not recognize each other, but in a moment of daze, Xie Huizhen suddenly turns her head to look at her brothers, who are gradually disappearing into the crowd. Her husband beside her asks, "Friends?" Xie Huizhen smiles and replies, "A very happy person." Meanwhile, the father and brothers also begin a new life. Two years after their mother's death, Chen Youming surprisingly shakes off his previous fatigue and sorrow, starting to write with a brush in the yard, while his future daughter-in-law is happily cutting A-Liang's hair, and they occasionally exchange playful banter. Chen Youming tells A-Liang, "Call your brother sometime and ask how he's doing." It seems everyone has begun to find a new direction in life, regaining the information and courage to live, and once again having expectations and wishes for tomorrow, just like the "red horse" soaring in the sky, full of vitality.
Final Thoughts#
After watching the entire film, I feel that there is much to explore and savor in this piece. Clearly, the artistic merit of this film far exceeds its Douban rating of 5.0. I believe the reason many people express dissatisfaction with their viewing experience or find it tedious is that this film does not conform to contemporary standards. In today's rapidly advancing 21st-century technological era, realistic and stunning special effects have become commonplace, with tightly woven plots and dramatic twists being the hallmark of good films. However, "The Red Horse in the Summer Sky" lacks all of these elements. Moreover, the film is set around the year 2000, not to mention the numerous blank scenic shots and many plot points that are not elaborated upon but rather jumped over. The entire film also lacks a musical score; whether this was intentional by the director is uncertain. The film features very few dialogues, with only a faint musical score in the closing part, and throughout the film, there is no additional sound editing, only the continuous sounds of crashing waves, the rustling of grass and trees in the wind, rain, birds chirping, and other white noise. When characters speak, the background white noise diminishes, and when the dialogue ends, the white noise returns to normal. This detail cannot even be called a detail, as anyone who watches the film attentively will notice the significant difference from the sound recording techniques used in most contemporary films.
At the same time, it is undeniable that the film's artistic concept is very strong. There is no very bright storyline throughout the film, even the main line of Xie Huizhen searching for her biological father abruptly halts in the middle of the film.
Returning to the film itself, it is one that does not conform to the mainstream of the times. Chang Tso-chi's film has a slow pace, low dramatic tension, and lacks dramatic conflict; he focuses more on describing various details of life. In addition to the common dining scenes, he incorporates many empty shots: clouds, skies, ocean views, streetlights, drifting trash, etc. These empty shots reflect the life state of the youngest son A-Liang, who often gazes at the sky alone, observing nature and finding his most comfortable position within it. He is the most stable presence among the three brothers, bearing the responsibility of caring for his intellectually disabled brother A-Ting. These empty shots reflect, to some extent, Chang Tso-chi's own life state: I want to include so many shots of nature, even if some viewers may find them tedious, monotonous, or boring. However, it is precisely the grandeur and vastness of nature that highlights the ugliness and obstruction caused by human waste in the film. Yet, the characters coexist peacefully with the trash; perhaps it is a habit to live with garbage, perhaps it is an inability to change the environment, or perhaps it is a calm acceptance of the harsh reality of a life of poverty.
In the latter part of the film, the father and the intellectually disabled second brother A-Ting sing off-key in their shabby little house:
The sky gradually brightens
Clouds gradually part
The wind gradually blows
Rain gradually falls
Whether it's summer or winter or windy days
Life goes on like this
In the garden, butterflies are flying
Flying... where to?
They know that everyone in life suffers, but what can be done? Tomorrow will still come, and loss and suffering will follow. What can we do? Where can we escape to?
Only by loving it can we live well.
Perhaps when you look up on a summer day, there is also a red horse floating in the sky. 🐴