How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
"Children of Invention," directed by Tze Chun, is a timely story of hardship — and resilience.
Told from the point of view of 10-year-old Raymond (Michael Chen), the drama focuses on the lives of a struggling immigrant family. When Raymond's mother Elaine (Cindy Cheung) loses money in a get-rich-quick scheme, they lose their house and must squat in an unsold condominium. Elaine tries desperately to split her time between breadwinning and her children.
But one night she doesn't come home. Raymond fears his mother has left him, just as his father did. Really, she has been taken into police custody because of the pyramid scheme she lost her money in. She is afraid to tell officials that she has children because she fears they too will be taken away. We can't fully ascertain her motivations because we're locked into Raymond's perspective, so the mother's character remains distant and inscrutable. Still, her suffering seeps up to the surface of the film.
Raymond and his younger sister Tina (Crystal Chiu) are left to fend for themselves. Raymond decides they must travel to Boston in order to get the money in his savings account. There, in order to survive, they make and sell inventions. This glimmer of unrealistic hope provides a simultaneously endearing and crushing quality to the film. It is moving to watch the children wander alone on screen; they are so vulnerable and ill-equipped to handle real life.
Chun should chiefly be applauded for his work with the two child actors, Chen and Chiu. The children are alone on screen for about 50 of the film's 90 minutes, and they're incredibly competent at storytelling. They are not puppets or tiny adults. They are just genuine, honest kids. Raymond's youthful perspective keeps the movie engaging and prevents it from falling too deeply into pity.
Not surprisingly, Chun's work is also poignant for its timeliness, with the state of the housing market and pyramid schemes preying on the innocent. The film does not seek to answer questions, or even attempt to solve the problems it presents. It only opens a small window for the audience to look through.
