Si-ma San-San Movies

Former assistant to renowned filmmaker Edward Yang, Wei Te-Sheng makes his feature debut with this coming-of-age crime drama. The film's protagonist is a sullen teenager who was already looking for a way out of his parent's struggling food stall business when his dad suddenly commits suicide. His mother now has twice as much work as before, and due to local taboos against burials in July, she must keep the coffin in their living room. A local gangster takes pity on the family and hires the teen as the doorman for a house of ill-repute, where he eventually becomes the only person caught when a do-gooder cop tries to make a bust. About July was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi