Lonely Blue NightLonely Blue Night

 A Chinese middle-class family has two important guests.  The first guests are the hosts for the daughter, who will be doing a homestay alone with them in the United States.  It's the first meeting with strangers, so there's an awkwardness between them.  The mother is deeply concerned about her daughter, who will be living alone in a foreign country far away.  On the other hand, her father is proud of his daughter and expects her to get a spot at an American private school. 

The moment when these mixed concerns and expectations are directly revealed is during the meeting of the second guest.  It is dinner with the father's American business partners.  The family tries to comply with their impolite requests to the end.  Though externally it seems that excitement has risen, there is commotion among each of the family members behind the scenes. <Lonely Blue Night>, directed by Chinese-American director Johnson Cheng, combines short anecdotes that take place in a Chinese restaurant to structurally illustrate the subtle emotional changes that a family faces.  A time that has yet to come, a better future that no one can predict prematurely.  It is a portrait of this family who must turn their sights to a foreign country and to others toward that dream. The night for them becomes deeply sorrowful and affectionate.  (Jeong Ji-hye)