It’s the same routine every day.
Yu Dong wakes up alone, in a lonely house, gets ready and rehearses in front of the mirror.
He rehearses his smile, he rehearses the jokes he’s going to tell, he rehearses the memories he’s going to jog. Just to cheer her up.
His bedridden wife is hospitalised due to stroke and is unable to talk or move.
And though he tries hard to be positive, memories of happy days with his wife do come back to haunt him. How long can he hold up the farce? How long can he keep the fake smile on?
Watch ‘Smile’ by Li Jia-Ling (Taiwan) on Viddsee:
‘Smile’ won the Golden Prize at the 2013 Taiwan Microfilm Festival, the Silver Prize at the 2014 TOSHIBA International Film Festival and was nominated in the Best Film category at the 2014 Urban Nomad International Film Festival.