Homesick (1934) is a heavy, necessary watch

Is it worth your time?

If you're looking for a breezy Friday night flick, look elsewhere. This isn't that. But if you have the patience for older cinema that actually cares about its characters, Homesick is worth the effort.

It’s not for people who need constant action or sharp, modern pacing. The movie moves at the speed of grief, honestly. It’s for folks who like to see how stories were told before everything got so loud.

The weight of it all

The whole thing is about Ying Yang’s family trying to survive after being kicked out of their home. It feels less like a "movie" and more like someone just holding a camera to a really bad day that never ends. You can tell the cast, especially Qianping Gao, is carrying the weight of that history in every shot.

There’s this one scene where they are just sitting in a cramped room, and the silence is… deafening. It goes on a bit longer than you’d expect. Most directors would have cut away to a landscape shot or some music, but they just let it sit there. It makes you feel trapped right along with them. It's uncomfortable, which is exactly the point.

Some random thoughts

• The set design feels weirdly dusty. You can almost smell the old wood and the cold air.
• I kept thinking about The Fireman and how different the energy is. Everything here is so muted, so gray.
• Ying Yang's expressions are so subtle you almost miss them if you blink.
• The lighting in the second act is surprisingly moody. It’s like the movie knows the characters have lost their way.

The pacing is definitely a bit uneven. Sometimes it feels like they’re rushing to get to the next tragedy, then other times it just crawls. It reminds me of the way Safety Last! uses physical space, but here, the space is meant to make you feel small instead of excited.

Honestly, I’m not sure if the script fully knew where to end, but the final shot feels just right. It doesn't give you closure. It just lets the characters drift into the next part of their miserable life. It’s messy, it’s a little sad, and it stays with you for a weirdly long time after the screen goes black. 🎞️