Before Then

Every form of communication involves deciphering codes. In this fascinating student film, director Mengzhu Xue attempts to confess a secret that she has carried with her for years. It is a secret that has taken her down the wrong path, rather than the one laid out for her as a young Chinese woman—marriage, children.

She presents the secret in the form of a letter in English, which she writes out phonetically in Chinese, and asks her grandmother to read out loud. The secret has been uttered, but in sounds that have no meaning to her grandmother.

The film itself is a code that is not always easy to decipher, with dreamlike scenes, contemplative poetic voice overs and shots that need just a little bit more context to make sense. Perhaps the filmmaker is using the code to capture her grandmother—to catch her and hold her—as death creeps ever closer. Before Then harbors more than just one secret. The question is whether we have the key to unlock each of them.