Chau Tan's return to the screen

Chau Tan delivers a performance that seamlessly blends with its surroundings in "The First Taste of Loneliness", a film competing in the official selection at the Busan International Film Festival.

More than two decades after Lou Diep's "Suzhou River" and Vuong Tieu Soai's "Beijing Bicycle", Chau Tan returns to a leading role in the arthouse film "The First Taste of Loneliness". This movie concludes the "Shan Shui" trilogy directed by Gu Xiaogang. The film premiered at Busan on 7/10, competing against 12 international projects.

Trailer "The First Taste of Loneliness". Video: Busan International Film Festival BIFF

Although Chau Tan is the most famous name in the cast, the film does not position her for a solo showcase. Instead, Gu Xiaogang places the star within a cinematic structure where acting must merge with space, time, and memory.

The story begins with the death of a father, then shifts its setting to an old apartment by the Qiantang River in Hangzhou. There, three generations of women—grandmother Luna, mother Giang Nguyet (Chau Tan), and teenage daughter Moon—live together. All three names evoke the moon. Their bond extends beyond blood, as they must learn to fill the void left by the patriarch.

From the outset, the director creates a visual impact with an over 20-minute long take exploring the apartment. Old cards, letters, and mementos of the deceased slowly appear. Gu Xiaogang chooses indirect storytelling, keeping the deceased off-screen but transforming the living space into a tangible entity that evokes the loss. These mementos awaken grief and raise an existential question: Does loneliness begin with separation and death, or has it always implicitly existed within each individual?

Giang Nguyet, a fashion designer, is divorced. She faces the loss of her father and prepares for her daughter's impending adulthood departure. Simultaneously, her elderly mother begins a new romantic relationship, inadvertently creating a family conflict. Does the mother have the right to love again? Can the daughter truly be happy for her mother without feeling she is betraying her deceased father? And can the mother embark on a new love without feeling guilty about memories of her husband? These internal struggles, rooted in East Asian identity, also touch upon universal questions of the right to continue living after loss.

Giang Nguyet also tries to open her heart to other men, but the more she moves forward, the more she is pulled back by the past. Chau Tan's restrained performance matches the director's quiet rhythm. Instead of melodramatic tears or shouts, emotions are conveyed through her gaze and aimless steps in the empty room. Chau Tan no longer carries the youthful innocence seen in "Suzhou River". Her character exudes the quiet resilience of a woman learning to let go of trauma.

Chau Tan (center) with her two co-stars in the film. Photo: Busan International Film Festival BIFF

The father's advice, "A moon for every river", becomes the key unlocking the entire work. The three women are three rivers carrying the current of loneliness, yet all reflect the same moon. Drawing on Eastern philosophy, the film implies that the pursuits people tirelessly chase—fame, marriage, family expectations—are sometimes merely reflections, like the moon's image on water. When Giang Nguyet stubbornly tries to fulfill her father's dying wish, she realizes it is just an illusion of the departed, thereby transforming her pain into enlightenment.

Viewing "The First Taste of Loneliness" solely as a film about family and loss would mean overlooking the most significant aspect of young director Gu Xiaogang's artistry, who is considered one of the prominent emerging names in contemporary Chinese arthouse cinema.

In the "Shan Shui" trilogy—Gu Xiaogang's three pivotal cinematic works—he aims to extend his experimentation with integrating the language of Shan Shui painting into cinema. If "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" depicted a multi-linear family scene like an unfolding scroll painting, and "Dwelling by the West Lake" explored a crime-solving journey, "The First Taste of Loneliness" narrows the story's scope. It no longer features a large family with many characters like the first part, nor a journey to save a mother like the second, but rather just a house, three women, and a deceased man.

Working with Japanese cinematographer Mikiya Takimoto, Gu Xiaogang applies the "One scroll, one shot" method. The crew established principles for each shot to resemble a scene within a painting, while simultaneously arranging multiple actions and layers of space within a single frame. In a conversation about the film, the director referenced Heidegger's proposition of "being-towards-death" and the Buddhist concept of "klesha is Bodhi" to define loneliness as a door to enlightenment.

Returning to arthouse cinema at a mature stage of her career, Chau Tan does not seek to dominate the frame. Amidst Gu Xiaogang's long takes, she simply exists within the space—sometimes near, sometimes far, occasionally obscured by a door, a wall, or another character. This humility lends true weight to her character, affirming the caliber of an actress who knows how to dissolve into the work.