Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
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based on child development research. How do we rate?
Tale of selfless, unappreciated mom has some mature themes.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Reclaim
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 142 parent reviews
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- successful recovery
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Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 7 kid reviews
What's the Story?
In RECLAIM, Lan-hsien (Nina Paw) is a middle-aged art teacher. She yearned to study in Paris and become an artist, but her single mother couldn't afford to send her and didn't believe in her anyway. As if to compensate, Lan-hsien has become an over-supportive mother of her two self-centered grown kids. A daughter (Chia-ken Ko) blithely moves back home, expecting Mom to do everything for her, including financially support her new business after she quits her job. Then she baselessly complains that Mom doesn't believe in her. The married son she and her husband worked to send to America for his education calls from America and rudely demands she book him a ticket to return to Taiwan, then abruptly hangs up on her, as if she is his secretary. Her selfish retired husband David (Shih-Hsun Kou) sits in his easy chair all day, complaining, belittling, and expecting her to clean up after him while he dictates to her. In one scene, she crawls on her knees washing the floor around him. She cared for his father until his death, but David has no interest in bringing her mother to the house now that a bedroom is free. This introduces the theme of the cycle of life, as she ages and her own daughter also grows older. Catering to all, she hunts for a larger house to accommodate the whole family.
Is It Any Good?
Reclaim is a ponderous collection of wonderful ideas that are strung together in an indecipherable way. Is it a family drama? Is it a story of loss? Is it about a financial scam? Is it about the cycle of life -- youth, aspiration, adulthood, raising kids, caring for parents, then being cared for by children? Yes to all of that, but also no because no single idea is developed or followed through to climax and satisfactory end. Add to all that a powerful, intelligent, and understated performance by Nina Paw as Lan-hsien, the wonderful teacher, dutiful but ignored mother, frustrated artist, unappreciated wife, doormat, and cheerleader, and the result is still disappointing.
Much of the mother's treatment seems culturally based and therefore a norm, but for non-Taiwanese audiences, the mother's selflessness, which might be a plus if her husband and children rewarded it with respect and gratitude, can read as sad and abusive. At seemingly dramatic moments, happy music plays. Is Lan-hsien the victim of a scam? That question inhabits a big chunk of the movie, yet the issue is dropped, the tension fades away, and we never learn if she lost her money. Suddenly the husband is nice to her. Why? Suddenly she refuses to take her selfish son's phone call. Why? Suddenly she doesn't drop everything to help her daughter and instead suggests the daughter do something for herself. Why? If the character has in fact learned something, we aren't told how or when that process occurred. It's unfortunate, because bits and pieces of the film work but, as a whole, it just doesn't.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why the mother almost never suggests her grown children do things for themselves. Do you think she wants them dependent on her, or does she think she's required to serve them? Why?
Her husband constantly belittles her, her ideas, her talent, and even her cooking. Do you think the marriage used to be happier, or do you think he always treated her that way? Why?
What does the movie say about aging? What does it say about family relations?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : August 6, 2022
- Cast : Nina Paw , Shi-Hsun Kou , Chia-ken Ko
- Director : CJ Wang
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Run time : 124 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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