Synapses

When the young Xiao Meng is released from prison, her father and son don’t recognise her – the former due to dementia developed during her six-year prison term and the latter because he was only a baby when she was arrested because of her dodgy boyfriend. In the melancholy Taiwanese Synapses, Xiao Meng's return unsettles her family. While the family members try to regain their balance, their vulnerable interrelations are acutely observed by director Chang Tso-chi. The son tries to hatch a turkey's egg, the onset of dementia causes dad to attempt to capture memories by taking photographs with no film in the camera, as the intangibility of time's progress imposes itself. Synapses shows how life always goes on and that families always end up around the same dining table again. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)