The film begins with a striking scene: a woman, bloodied and battered, appears in a quiet village alley late at night and stares directly into the camera. The scene then shifts to Yen’s reunion with her mother, Ai-Lee, after serving eight years in prison. Ai-Lee, who runs a small grocery store and sells lottery tickets, is blunt and direct, while Yen, feeling unfamiliar with life outside of prison, remains emotionally reserved. Tensions rise when, one day, Yen’s much younger half-brother arrives, upsetting the fragile balance between Yen and Ai-Lee. Director Tom Lin Shu-Yu calmly unfolds the story of Yen and Ai-Lee from each of their perspectives in black-and-white, slowly leading to the moment where they begin to embrace each other. Intense performances by Yang Kuei-Mei and Hsia Kimi breathe life into this tense, love-hate relationship between mother and daughter. (PARK Sun Young)