In delivering these small but crushing observations, Han continuously asks if Patty’s and Liang’s sacrifices were worth it. While Patty watches her husband and children interact, whether they’re passing each other in the hallway or keeping quiet at dinner, she’s forced to ask herself what the silence means. Throughout Nights When Nothing Happened, Han lingers in stillness, underlining moments of unease and sadness. To describe the event that causes things to unravel would do a disservice to Han’s expert pacing. These fissures do not appear too wide to overcome, until a series of misunderstandings threatens to implode the Chengs’ delicate stability. Gently, Han pulls the strings of each family member, moving them further from one another, to reveal the cracks in the unit. Nights are long and restless for the 11-year-old, who feels protective toward 5-year-old Annabel.
The time apart from his parents in his formative years has left him untrusting, particularly of his father. Han works toward an answer by moving between the perspectives of the Chengs as they go about their daily lives: stuck in traffic, sitting in a classroom, playing on the monkey bars.
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