The Butterfly

Home is a short Thai film about a daughter who visits her family. The guideline says it’s about finding your true happiness, but I think the director may have overestimated my ability to discern that message out of this inscrutable short.

A university student draws money out of an ATM and makes her way home. Her father is working in the forest where he grows much of their food. She asks if he needs help but he declines. Her mother is elated to see her and makes her favorite dishes which the daughter leaves untouched. Her parents become worried at her withdrawal but the daughter refuses to talk with them.

There are some films that are enigmatic and leave the viewer to draw their own conclusion. Others are simply a slice of life that leave more questions than answers. This short film did both. I could try and make up a profound meaning to the happenings in this film, but I don’t think it was that deep. It felt like a film about that time in life when a young person is seeking the answers to questions they aren’t sure how to ask just yet. And too wound up in their own feelings to understand how their silence can cause pain for caring parents. Or not. Whether Home is where the young woman's heart was, remained to be seen.

16 December 2024