Ai cao (2009)

Chaing Hsiu-Chiung’s well-scripted debut is a matrilineal drama about three generations of resilient women. In a powerfully subdued performance, famed Taiwanese opera star and actress Pan Li Li portrays the title role of Ai-tsao, a single 58-year-old woman who cares for her critical, penny-pinching mother and closeted gay son. As a young woman, Ai-tsao defied her conservative family to marry an older mainlander and pursue an independent life in Taipei. Now widowed for over 20 years, she proudly dotes on her two children, for whom she has dutifully worked to provide a good life and first-rate education.