sonatina

This film was so powerful in artfully (as well as humorously) talking about mother-daughter intergenerational relationships and the burdens many of us unknowingly carry and try to break from throughout our lives. While at first the film is lighthearted and funny diving into the discomforts of being a middle schooler, the film also surprisingly dives deeper into profound places of coming of age, knowing when to individuate and find out who you are in relationship to your family, your peers, and by yourself. There is a scene at the end that is absolutely mind blowing and heart touching when Mei walks through a bamboo forest with her mother. I very much see this scene as her being tasked with healing generations of her family by tenderly embracing and caretaking something that many have seen as a curse. I deeply relate to this, being one of the few members of my family who has sought help for many pains, struggles, and grief we have inherited through the generations. To have a film so beautifully explain how we can heal ourselves by accepting the pain of our ancestors past and transforming it, is rare. For those who have been giving bad reviews to this film, it really breaks my heart to read, because this film speaks to many people's experiences and also provides hope and a salve to the heart and spirit of not only the inner children of our selves, but also that of our parents. Watch this film with an open heart and with compassion for the child self of you, and, who your parents may have been as children. Heal both of those children. Love them both more deeply than you ever have because you're both still just trying to figure out who you are.