A dark and poetic comedy, Seven Days in Heaven centers on one woman’s experience of the death and funeral of her father. Mei, resolutely urban, makes her way back to her rural—and sometimes backward—hometown, where she and her brother endure a series of arcane and elaborate funeral rites. Their frustrations are frequently punctuated by genuine feelings of loss. Codirectors Wang Yu-lin and Essay Liu (who also wrote the screenplay) deliver a film that assumes a lighthearted approach to its otherwise severe themes of death and grief. Emotionally complex and often ironic, Seven Days in Heaven investigates the turbulent spectrum of emotions associated with the passing of a loved one and the vagaries of modern-day death with a humorous touch that is both direct and heartfelt.


North American Premiere. Written by Essay Liu. Photographed by Fu Shih-ying. With Wang Li-wen, Wu Tai-po, Chen Cha-shiang. (93 min, Magnifique Creative Media)