Daughter's Daughter

This emotionally faceted, masterfully assembled second feature from Huang Xi (Missing Johnny) confirms the young writer-director’s status as the bold new voice in Taiwanese cinema. Starring screen legend Sylvia Chang, Daughter’s Daughter is both a character study that sheds light on what it means to pursue independence as an older woman and a highly contemporary moral tale that poses dizzying questions about parental responsibility.

Jin Aixia (Chang) has two daughters, but Emma (Karena Lam), who grew up in New York, and Fan Zuer (Eugenie Liu), who grew up in Taipei, never knew about each other until well into adulthood. When Zuer and her partner decide to try and get pregnant via in vitro fertilization, they wind up travelling to the US for treatments. Tragically, the couple die there in an accident, but their embryo remains alive and well — and Aixia is left as its legal guardian. Arriving in New York overwhelmed with grief, she is faced with the choice to donate, terminate, or find a surrogate for the embryo. But after a life spent feeling like she’s fallen short as a mother, who is she to decide what to do with her deceased daughter’s unborn child?

The above is relayed in chronological order, but part of Daughter’s Daughter’s poignancy comes from the elegant way that Huang slides seamlessly back and forth in time. Executive produced by Chang and Taiwanese New Wave luminary Hou Hsiao-hsien, the film is anchored in tradition while forging brilliant new paths regarding cinematic storytelling — and chronicling ways that scientific advancements alter our relationship to family and legacy.

GIOVANNA FULVI