The film opens with the death of a father, then moves across the Qiantang River to an old apartment where three generations of women live together. The second scene, filmed in a long take lasting over twenty minutes, meticulously observes the inside of the home the father has left behind, discovering the traces of his presence. The camera quietly captures the lives of the three women as they grieve the loss of the husband, father, and grandfather in their own ways. Their names - Luna, Jiang Yue, and Moon - all evoke the moon, echoing what Yue’s father often said when he was alive: “A moon for every river.” The story of these three women, each carrying a moon in her own river, follows their paths of loneliness and healing. Gu You completes his Landscape trilogy with this film, after Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountain and Dwelling by the West Lake. He layers the characters’ lives across the scenery of rivers, mountains, and cities through fluid and graceful camerawork by cinematographer Mikiya Takimoto, known for his collaborations with Koreeda Hirokazu. Within these landscapes, the delicate and elegant performance of acclaimed Chinese actor Zhou Xun creates an even deeper resonance.
Gu You’s feature debut, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2019), screened as the closing film of Critics′ Week at the Cannes Film Festival and was named one of the Top Ten Films of the Year by both Cahiers du Cinéma (2020) and Kinema Junpo (2021). His second feature, Dwelling by the West Lake (2023), was invited to the Main Competition of the Tokyo International Film Festival, where he received the Akira Kurosawa Award as its youngest-ever recipient, and the film went on to screen as the opening film of the Beijing International Film Festival. The First Taste of Loneliness is the third installment in Gu You′s ‘Shanshui Film’ trilogy.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
