Red Persimmon
Drama History
Veteran director Wang Tong of STRAWMAN, HILLS OF NO RETURN, continues his exploration of one of the key themes in Taiwanese cinema: the trauma caused by the country's separation from Mainland China. RED PERSIMMON follows a family struggle to survive on a new land. It's the director's autobiographic work.The story comes from director's real-life grandmother. Grandmother leads a team of grandchildren immigrating from China to Taiwan in the 40s, setting down, making a difficult transition, and then bringing up the kids. Three days before the Wang Family was to make their escape from the mainland, the grandmother hid in a closet, claiming that she did not want to leave behind her beloved persimmon tree.The scenes of the film come straight from Wang's own childhood, right down to the scene where the grandmother ties her ten children together with rope so that they would not get lost. Though Wang's family lived a comfortable life in China, they lost everything when they came to Taiwan: their houses, their savings, and their land.The film focuses on the relationship between the strong grandmother and her ten grandsons as they adjust to life in an entirely new world.
