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Original Film Title: The Taste of Pork Belly
Director’s Name: Sophie SHUI
Writer’s Name: Sophie SHUI
Producer: Ching-Sung LIAO, Chi-Fang TING
Country of Origin: Taiwan
Country of Filming: Taiwan
Language: Chinese – Min Nan, Mandarin Chinese
Runtime: 15 minutes
Film Description:
The preschooler A-Mao spends his days fooling around and exploring with his little sister and his buddy A-Bao. When they are hungry, there are sweet potatoes and snails to eat, and from time to time A-Mao can also eat some of the pork belly that his mother has gotten as a “gift.” A-Mao’s childhood is free and happy.
A-Mao’s father, who came to Taiwan with the Kuomintang government, has been unsuccessful in different kinds of work. As a result, he spends his days in idleness and depression. He is often drinking, and likes to chatter and gripe. After someone reports on him, he is arrested and imprisoned. Afterwards, he is released following “mediation,” but his mental state has grown even stranger, and he is constantly afraid that he will arrested again.
Apart from earning money by washing people’s clothes, A-Mao’s mother occasionally prostitutes herself in exchange for pork to feed her family. A-Mao’s mother always puts on her floral skirt every time she goes to buy meat. After picking out a piece of pork belly at the meat stall, she enters the butcher’s truck to complete the “transaction.”
One day, after A-Mao notices the butcher’s truck shaking, sees a neighbor jeer at his mother, and hears his parents quarreling… A-Mao suddenly understands where the pork belly comes from. He starts to detest his mother’s floral skirt, and begins refusing to eat the pork belly that he once liked so much.