Film Review of 'Sunshine of My Life'

The film begins with the birth of the daughter and how the parents live their normal lives looking after their young daughter with visual impairment. The first few scenes involve the visually impaired mother preparing dinner in the kitchen when she accidentally cuts her finger. At the same time, the young daughter accidentally pulls a wire in curiosity resulting in a pot of hot congee falling from the cupboard. Hearing cries from the baby, the mother rushes through to the living room to see what happened but unfortunately slipped and fell as the congee was spilt on the floor. They were sent to the hospital right after, where another couple commented on the visually impaired pair that having a baby was a mistake, and suggested they send the young daughter to adoption. However, the mother didn’t send her beloved daughter away and instead came up with wristbands tied to audible bells so that she, and her husband, could tell where their daughter was and keep track of their daughter using the sound the bells made.

There is a scene in the film expressing how the family is eating out at a restaurant when the daughter is young. The waiter suggested a medicine formula to the blind parents saying that there is a formula in Chinese medicine which could cure blindness while worshipping Taoism/Chinese Buddhism. The parents quickly dismiss this idea as Christians sparking the young daughter’s curiosity, with the daughter asking her parents why they were getting rid of the paper with the formula on it. The father responds “這個世界哪有那麼多神醫，神棍就有不少”, which suggests the parents’ rejection of myths and miracles of other religions. The daughter replies by saying “可能這次有用呢，你們不想睜開眼睛嗎”, foreshadowing the daughter’s innocence while emphasising the daughter wanting her parents to be cured. The parents then said that they are well enough, saying “我們挺好的，為什麼要睜開眼”, implying that they are already grateful for what they have at the moment and have no intention of curing themselves (which can also be interpreted that the parents don’t think their disability is curable). The daughter disagrees with the statement, questioning “你們不想看看這世界是什麼樣的嗎”, meaning that “Wouldn’t you want to know what the world looks like?”, while also asking “你們不想看看我的樣子嗎？你們又沒見過我，怎麼認得我？”, curious how her parents could recognise her without ever seeing her face visually. The parents optimistically replied “只要我拉着你的手，然後我摸到你的臉了，然後再摸摸你的耳朵，那我就知道是你啦”, expressing that they could still recognise her from physical touch, emphasising their shared intimacy and the closeness and bond within the family. This is important as this sense of intimacy within the family contrasts greatly with the later scenes when the daughter grows older as a teenager. 

The generation gap between the young daughter and the blind parents is apparent when the plot shifts to the daughter’s life as a teenager and a high school student, showing arguments between the two generations, with the daughter seeking more independence from her rather conservative parents. This becomes more apparent as the plot explores the daughter’s pressure of deciding whether to study abroad to pursue her ideals or stay in Hong Kong to care for her parents. As the daughter comes from a family with visually impaired parents, her parents would naturally rely more on her, and hence this reliance becomes her annoyance and gives her much pressure and guilt. A notable example is when the mother is very dependent on her daughter when the daughter has to give up important interviews for universities abroad to accompany her to see a doctor, or when she would sacrifice her social life to accompany her mother to visit patients in need. The daughter was initially very annoyed by this as she felt that fulfilling her parents’ needs meant sacrificing her social life with friends or her future of wanting to study abroad. It appears to be an either-or situation with a binary choice, at least at this stage of the plot. These incidents built up tension and differences between the parents and the teenage daughter, further contributing to a deterioration in their relationship. 

The strained relationship is yet again highlighted in a scene in the film where the mother tries to pick up her daughter from school, but her daughter cruelly pretends not to know her because she is ashamed of her background and afraid that her classmates would know that she is from a special family. The breaking point of this built-up pressure happens when the two generations also differ in opinion in terms of the daughter’s social interactions with friends. The daughter meets with her friends at school while her crush gives her a pager for sending messages to each other. Her mother is suspicious of this and breaks her pager while they are quarrelling at home. This escalates quickly and the daughter destroys the recording tapes her mother had in her bedroom for years, and leaves home in anger. The daughter did not return home that evening, leaving the parents distressed and anxious. They waited overnight and tried to find the daughter on the streets the next day. In my opinion, this conflict is a direct result of growing differences and ideological conflict between the two generations, where the mother was quite over-protective of her daughter out of a good heart, but she applied her love the wrong way by constantly controlling her daughter’s life and her exposure to the outside world. This left the daughter feeling frustrated and annoyed, making it a vicious cycle of growing concerns and wrong solutions to the problem.

The mother in the film is stereotypically conservative, with the mindset of strictly not letting her daughter hang out with her friends, not even keeping contact after school through landline phones or pagers. In reality, the conflicts between mothers and daughters in many single-parent families tend to be more acute. Fortunately in the film, the father is a good buffer in this conflict and tries to find common ground between the two, easing tensions. In the absence of a father's role, the tighter the mother's grip is, the further her daughter would have run away. However, to my surprise, the mother, at last, can reflect on her parenting style and change her mind quickly, becoming more progressive after persuasion from her husband and, sincerely supporting her daughter in pursuing her dreams after the quarrel.

The daughter also realised her shortcomings in handling this conflict with her mother and regrets her choice of leaving home shortly after the quarrel. She returns home realising that her parents were not there. She fixes the broken recording tapes on her parents’ bed, only to find out that the tapes were recordings of her childhood. Touched by the recordings, she sets out to find her parents on the streets, realising that it is raining while her parents are found without an umbrella. The family reunites on the streets while the family works to respect each other, with the parents acknowledging and respecting the daughter’s pursuit of independence. For the daughter, this is also a process of constantly understanding her parents and their intentions, only then does she realise that she does not have to fly away and leave everything behind to move forward. Instead, staying with her family would give her deeper support and strength.

The Chinese name of the film used in mainland China is「我的非凡父母」, which directly translates to “My Extraordinary Parents” in English. Compared to the hard work the blind parents experienced while raising their daughter, in my opinion, their respect towards the daughter’s independence during her teenage years and their ability to change their parenting style after reflection is what makes them “extraordinary”. Being a parent is by no means an easy task, and it is even more difficult for a blind couple to raise their children. However, the film is not just about celebrating the hardships of blind families. Instead, it also emphasises the realisation for the parents to respect that their daughter is not merely a person who lived for them, but also a young soul with her pursuits. 

1. Sunshine of My Life on Disney Plus

https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/movies/sunshine-of-my-life/4hbLxm8IhPiC

2. Film Review of Sunshine of My Life (1)

https://www.fanswong.com/article/01831e4c-8da7-6cec-3171-df02b31d0246