Those who have watched "The way we are" (2008) will know exactly what to expect from today's Ann Hui – films that are delightfully free of sappy melodrama. In that film we share the ordinary, everyday life of several sibling-linked families, some more affluent but not really rich, others less fortunate but not quite on poverty line. There is no manipulation of the audience's emotions, but towards the end, there is one scene in which the affluent uncle (played beautifully by KO Chi-shum), hitherto quite typically no-nonsense business-like (although there is no sign of his looking down on poor relatives), matter-of-factly said to his bright sister-son something to the effect of "Don't worry if your exam results are not good enough to get you into university here. We (he and another uncle) will finance your university education abroad. That's the least we can do to reciprocate how your mother looked after us when we were small". The very casual way he said this is enough to bring a lump to your throat.
"A simple life" rings true in the same way – genuine emotion does not need melodramatic manipulation.
As the last of a trilogy loosely, thematically linked ("my model of experimentation", said director Ann Hui) with the aforementioned and "The post-modern life of my aunt" (2006), "A simple life" is based on producer Roger Lee's true story with domestic maid Tao who had been part of his life from day one, and became a default mother when his entire family emigrated to the US. In the film, Deannie Yip and Andy Lau are pitch-perfect as Tao and Roger, drawing from their numerous previous screen corroborations as mother and son. In an interview with Time Out, Hong Kong, director Ann Hui also intimated that on the process of aging, she has deep personal experience with her own mother. In the film, Roger took Tao to a premiere of a film he produced, but Hui said she had second thoughts about doing the same with her mother, fearing that the reaction might be "Are you giving me hints? (about putting her in an old folks' home)"
Starting with Tao going to an old folks' home and ending at her natural death at old age, the simple story is simply told, with surprisingly gentle humour. Through inevitable vicissitudes, human goodness and compassion surface. There are some eccentric characters and flawed human nature to various degrees, but no real villains. As in "The way we are" the warmth that brims over always brings a lump to your throat, such as Tao at the old folks' home receiving a call from Roger and friends at a card game, thinking of her – middle-aged men that she had know since they were little kids.
"A simple life" is a film that is true to life. An added bonus to local viewers is a delightful proliferation of cameos from household names in the Hong Kong cinematic scene.
"A simple life" rings true in the same way – genuine emotion does not need melodramatic manipulation.
As the last of a trilogy loosely, thematically linked ("my model of experimentation", said director Ann Hui) with the aforementioned and "The post-modern life of my aunt" (2006), "A simple life" is based on producer Roger Lee's true story with domestic maid Tao who had been part of his life from day one, and became a default mother when his entire family emigrated to the US. In the film, Deannie Yip and Andy Lau are pitch-perfect as Tao and Roger, drawing from their numerous previous screen corroborations as mother and son. In an interview with Time Out, Hong Kong, director Ann Hui also intimated that on the process of aging, she has deep personal experience with her own mother. In the film, Roger took Tao to a premiere of a film he produced, but Hui said she had second thoughts about doing the same with her mother, fearing that the reaction might be "Are you giving me hints? (about putting her in an old folks' home)"
Starting with Tao going to an old folks' home and ending at her natural death at old age, the simple story is simply told, with surprisingly gentle humour. Through inevitable vicissitudes, human goodness and compassion surface. There are some eccentric characters and flawed human nature to various degrees, but no real villains. As in "The way we are" the warmth that brims over always brings a lump to your throat, such as Tao at the old folks' home receiving a call from Roger and friends at a card game, thinking of her – middle-aged men that she had know since they were little kids.
"A simple life" is a film that is true to life. An added bonus to local viewers is a delightful proliferation of cameos from household names in the Hong Kong cinematic scene.