After his father’s death, ten-year-old Xiang, goes to live to Taipei with his mother and stepfather that he barely knows. What is the unvoiced violence that surrounds him in his new home ? One night, Xiang dreams of his elder brother who went missing, his subconscious works and brings to the surface a secret that questions the likelihood of his new stepfamily. Punctuated by four portraits drawn by children that are all chapters of the story, The Fourth Portrait confirms Taiwanese Chung Mong-Hong’s talent, obviously influenced by a Taiwanese cinematographic masterpiece, Yi Yi, by Edward Yang (2000). Friends with the kindly school caretaker who is now retired and a young chubby petty thief full of life, the boy’s lonely emotional life exists on a plane somewhere between two generations as if his parents’ age group was foreign, forbidden. The beauty of the photography and the elegance of its editing contribute to the cocoon-like but yet dark atmosphere surrounding the new life that is imposed on Xiang. Charlotte Garson
