Audience Member
The literal meaning of its original Chinese title is "the day and night of Tin Shui Wai", Tin Shui Wai is a northwestern area of Hong Kong and is noted for its public housing estates, where mostly low-income families inhibit, Ann Hui's heartfelt picture centers on a single mother Mrs. Cheung (Paw) and her teenage son Ka-on (Leung), through their kitchen-sink daily life, it cogently reflects our modern society's interpersonal relations with spontaneous casualness and certainly Hui's best work I've ever watched (I have yet to see A SIMPLE LIFE 2011)!
The film runs effortlessly to rotate around Cheung and Ka-on's quotidian doings, Cheung works in a supermarket and Ka-on idles at their boxy apartment since it is summer vacation. Granny Leung Foon (Lai-wan Chan), a new neighbor who lost her daughter recently and her son-in-law remarried, Leung Foon's solitary life is singled out naturally through her entry scenes (buy a paltry portion of beef for herself, the meat vendor even fastidiously complains one of her coins is black and demands a swap), records more closely to her meals (the same beef fried with cabbage being consumed in both lunch and dinner), the artistry is all in the details. Leung Foon is typically protective and penny-pinching, but her heart will gradually open to Cheung and Ka-on, since a near neighbor is better than a distant cousin, among them, a sensitive surrogate family bond is developing and culminating after a tearjerking talking heart to heart on a bus back from a fruitless attempt to visit Foon's grandson.
Meanwhile, the backstory of Cheung and the tacit alienation between Cheung and her mother, her well-off brothers are all steadily unraveling, Cheung is a woman full of pride, she can undertake hardships, she never solicit any remuneration for bringing up two brothers, but her mother thinks it is her tomfoolery to struggle in poverty, this creates a knot between them, but family is always family, there is no grudges among them, Cheung's swallow nest congee betokens that tellingly.
Hee Ching Paw and Lai-wan Chan are pitch perfect in their lifelike performances (which incredibly counters their theatrical training), newcomer Chun-lung Leung is also a force of nature, here is a young boy without any rebellious traits (no gamble, no girlfriend problem, no drug abuse, no religious hindrance), his upbringing is the most laudable feat and yet Hui achieves that by no hyperbole at all. If you are a Hong Kong cinema connoisseur, you will be thrilled to see a cameo from a comely Idy Chan (15 years after her retirement from the screen).
Ann Hui is a tower of strength in current HK cinema scenery, she is less internationally-recognized than Johnny To, but her cannon is so rich and diverse and her unique mastery of humanistic care should enlist her name among the most overlooked directors of all time!
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Excellent!!!!!
It is a very subtle movie. It reveals to me what life really is, or what life could be at least for some people, in Hong Kong public estates. Despite some adverse conditions, people can still have a happy and positive life.
If you are accustomed to those formulaic plots in Hong Kong movies, be prepared to the unexpected twists. They are unexpected not because they are unusual. They are unexpected because we have been accustomed to unusual and unrealistic plots. Real life there is not that dramatic, but can still be very touching.
The movie, maybe intentionally, also misleads the audience by presenting stereotypical characters and then reveals subtly more about them, giving depth to them. They may not be merely what they first appear to be. Don't jump to conclusion and judge the characters easily ... and don't jump to conclusion and judge others easily.
Despite the slow pace, the movie really need to be watched attentively. Many things are told by body language and environment, instead of having the characters telling us directly what happen.
Last, I like the English title. It fits the story much better than the Chinese title.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Is it really that great as said & being received? Not really, in my opinion. In fact, it is rather lukewarm, trivial & lack of plotline. However, its grassroots, down to earth tone & Hong Kong-oriented attitude should be highly appreciated & encouraged in conditions nowadays.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Ann Hui's brilliant works! There is no extremely dramatic moment, but it is the ordinary that grip your heart. I am moved to tears no matter how many times i have seen it!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Ann Hui, a very good new director about ordinary lives in HK new territories.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Amazing how a film, in which nothing really happens, can be so gripping. Gives you a whole new perspective on human relationships.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
Full Review
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