Filmmaker Shih Chun Hsiao offers A Better Place
It’s immediately apparent when watching A Better Place that there is an abundance of major on-screen talent. The film stars Sam Song Li (of Primetime Emmy Nominated Netflix series The Brothers Sun and AMC’s Primetime and Golden Globes Award–Nominated Peabody Award–Winning Better Call Saul), Lydia Look (on NCIS: Hawai’i and Primetime Emmy Nominated television institution General Hospital), and Jen Kuo Sung (Primetime Emmy Nominated Series NCIS: Los Angeles, Primetime Emmy Nominated series Agents of Shield) who are transfixing. Still, astute film fans will recognize the remarkable presence of Shih Chun Hsiao as the director and editor of this film who intensifies the performances of these powerful actors. Though told through the lens of an Asian family, the premise of A Better Place is infused with a number of universal factors including the most paramount one of wanting our children to have a better life. Full of heart and tension, there’s a great deal to recognize in big business seeking to overtake the agricultural homestead of a small family. A Better Place is a puzzle that weaves financial concerns with familial ties in a way that leads the audience to introspection, the sign of any great enduring film.
The main character in A Better Place is Henry, a young man of Asian descent. Henry can’t understand his parents. This is not uncommon for someone of his age but Henry’s frustration is concerning the decision of his parents’ unwillingness to sell their dilapidating farm to an oil company for a sizeable sum. His mother’s injury has left Tzu-Yi (his father) to tend to the land by himself, which is nearly impossible. Seeing the sale of the family’s homestead as inevitable and this particular offer as most favorable, Henry makes known his plan to not continue into the family business. Throughout the film, Henry and the audience begin to comprehend what his parents have done for him in moving to a new country and taking on this farm. Their determination and commitment are the perfect examples of what most US citizens perceive as the American story; namely, immigrants who come to this country to work hard and provide.
A Better Place feels deeply personal, and that’s for good reason. Director, writer, and editor Shih Chun reveals that the film was inspired by personal experiences like when he revealed to his parents that he would be pursuing a film career rather than an engineering degree. This moment is reflected in A Better Place as Henry informs his parents that he will not take over the family farm which they’ve spent decades establishing. There’s an intimacy throughout this film that is deeply designed into it. In particular, the scene where Henry begins his morning on the farm exemplifies this. He walks about the farm just after sunrise and the tools of his father are as much a part of the landscape as the plant life and rolling pastures. Henry stops to eat a sweet peach and this signifies the fruits (literally and figuratively) of his parents’ labor and careful planning to provide for him. Moments like these lead to a somewhat shocking plot twist at the end of the film. Though it seems like an ending, it is instead the opportunity for this family to begin a new conversation, one which might offer a chance to become even closer.
A Better Place has been screened and met with thunderous accolades at several festivals, including the Burbank Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival. While this praise is most certainly recognized and appreciated by the film’s creator, Shih Chun prefers the one-on-one compensation he receives from direct audience feedback. He comments,
After a screening at the Norris Theatre, a senior citizen approached me and shared how the film reminded him of his childhood, running around his family farm, which they eventually had to leave due to urbanization. Another audience member, an immigrant student, expressed that the film captured exactly what she experienced with her parents. She wanted them to move to a better place for a better life, but her parents insisted on staying in their declining, remote old home because it was their family's first settlement. This film was originally inspired by a real story I heard during my time as an oil engineer, about the conflict within a family when an oil company offered good money to buy land for oil exploration. To my surprise, the moments in the movie, the interactions between the characters, and the story’s setting resonated with many audiences, as it mirrored parts of their own lives. Knowing that I provided meaningful entertainment and sparked conversations about generational differences was truly rewarding.
