Murmur of the Hearts

(NIAN NIAN)

A mother leaves home to go and live in town, taking her daughter, Mei, with her and leaving her son Nan behind with their father. Years later, Nan, who has become a tourist guide, still has trouble forgetting the disappearance of his mother and sister. Mei, who has become pregnant by accident, remembers her mother, pregnant after an affair with another man and who died in childbirth.

Hsiang, Mei’s boyfriend, a boxer without much of a future in boxing, keeps on fighting because he thinks that it is the only way to make contact with his deceased father. Each of them is at a turning point in life. Mei, Nan and Hsiang must learn to accept their past.

“Murmur of the Hearts” draws an intimate portrait of three characters who have to face up to traumatism in their past and complicated relationships with their parents. He weaves memories and sincere fee- lings of sadness and regret in a dreamlike process of reconciliation. Mei faces up to her demons when destiny seems to be repeating the past. A gentle, moving portrayal of the passage into adult life.