Bao (2018)

Directed by: Domee Shi | 8 minutes | animation, short film | Original voice cast: Daniel Kailin, Sindy Lau

There is no bond as strong as the one between mother and child. But no matter how important the mother is in her child’s early years, there will come a day when the son or daughter will definitively detach himself from his parents. How do you deal with that as a mother? Some mothers love their children so much that they want to keep them with them forever. But whether the child is happy with that… In ‘Bao’ (2018), the Pixar short that is shown prior to ‘The Incredibles 2’ (2018), it revolves around a mother who has trouble letting go of her child. This eight-minute video is the first Pixar short to be directed by a woman. Domee Shi is a Canadian with Chinese roots, who describes the story as a ‘magical, modern fairytale, a kind of Chinese variation on ‘The Gingerbread Man’.

‘Bao’ is a culinary fable in which we meet an elderly and lonely Chinese woman. Her husband leaves for work immediately after dinner, she remains alone. By throwing herself into preparing food for the next meal, she manages to give her loneliness a place. While she is making dumplings (Chinese stuffed dough balls), one of the balls suddenly comes to life. He develops eyes, a nose, a mouth, a torso, arms and legs. The woman decides to take care of him; she feeds him and hugs him. But little ones get bigger over time, and so does dumpling. He likes to socialize with other children, not just his mother. Where he strives for his independence, his mother demands more attention from him. When Dumpling comes home one day with a woman who introduces herself as his betrothed, Mother has had enough and does something radical that cannot be reversed…

Any mother can imagine the emotions of the mother in ‘Bao’; she suffers from ’empty nest syndrome’ and it is a bittersweet experience for her to realize that nothing and no one stays small and cute forever. The story is powerful in all its simplicity, and by setting it in the Chinese immigrant community in Canada, Domee Shi gives herself the opportunity to indulge and tap into the rich Eastern culinary traditions. Her own mother acted as a ‘cultural consultant’ and saw to it that the making of the dumplings was imitated as lifelike and authentic as possible. This is how Pixar stays true to Chinese cultural traditions. The ‘twist’ on three quarters of the film can be confronting for some viewers; especially because it only becomes clear in the last quarter how the fork is in the stem. If you keep in mind that this is a Pixar production, you can reassure yourself.

‘Bao’, as we have come to expect from the Pixar shorts, is cleverly conceived, funny and beautifully designed. It is impressive how Domee Shi manages to pack so many emotions into so few minutes of film. She aptly depicts how someone can put an unbridled amount of love into preparing food and how this can then act as compensation for a great and painful loss. The twist puts the mood on edge, but gives this tiny film its extra dimension. With ‘Bao’, Pixar serves up another ‘appetizer’ that is just as good as – if not better than – the main film.