Starring: Ling Zhi, Briana Liu and Eon Song
Inspired by the life of Masako Wakamiya, who bought her first laptop at 60 years old and became a coding expert, The Code of Family is a heart-warming Chinese-American piece whispering wisdom about learning, family and the boundlessness of age.
Written and directed by Kayla Sun, it tells the story of a grandmother, ‘Gran’, who lives with her daughter and granddaughter. While her granddaughter is stressing over a university project due soon, Gran is secretly studying coding, which late in the story we discover is for a deeply emotional reason of love and family legacy.
The Code of Family is visually quiet, substance over style, with the framing and cinematography resembling portraiture in their simplicity and beauty. The open shot is notable and imaginative in this respect. The performances are brilliant, illuminating of deep societal issues such as ageism, isolation and exclusion. In particular, Ling Zhi’s portrayal of Gran is outstanding in her understated expressiveness, and this she is matched by the introspective original score.
‘Can I help you?’ Gran gets asked by the lecturer when she sits down at coding class for the first time, implying she is in the wrong place. ‘You wouldn’t understand’, her granddaughter blurts out to her when she asks what about her homework is stressing her out. But this is a story about perseverance and legacy, which Gran takes seriously, almost spiritually. In a simple cinematic phrase, Gran sits at the back of the class her first day, but is soon sitting at the front.
Growing older is an experience intrinsic to life, and yet the modern world totally shuns this. Experience and wisdom tend to be ignored by the modern world focused on youth, speed and immediacy. Understanding old age and valuing growing old for its own sake is a human value we urgently need to re-discover, and films like The Code of Family suggest to us beautifully.