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Dec 31, 2014Nursebob rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Stoic and self-effacing, Ah Tao has been the Leung family’s maid for over 60 years. Nowadays, with its members either dead or scattered around the globe, she keeps mainly to herself. A visit from Roger Leung, a high-powered executive in the film industry, gives her a new sense of purpose as she scurries about the marketplace and busies herself cooking and cleaning up after him. But a sudden debilitating stroke lands her in a nursing home and finds the traditional roles of lord and housekeeper suddenly reversed. Owing Ah Tao a lifetime of gratitude (she not only raised him but nursed him after his first heart attack) Roger spares no expense to ensure she gets all the care and attention she requires to live out this final chapter of her life and in the process gains a new respect, bordering on love, for the old woman. Focusing on this renewed relationship Ann Hui makes more than a few pithy comments on the plight of the elderly in China’s money-obsessed economy, the meaning of “family”, and the bonds of responsibility that form an integral part of the social contract. She even manages to sneak in the occasional wry observation on Hong Kong’s movie industry for good measure. The camera lovingly embraces everyone it touches from the luminous Deannie Yip as Ah Tao to the cast of elderly extras populating the nursing home. This is a film of gentle conversations and warm memories which, despite its underlying sense of loss, elicits moments of genuine humour. Unfortunately it is also firmly rooted in Hong Kong cultural realities and as such much of its subtle commentary on race, identity and status are lost on Western audiences. It is this one drawback that renders it a very well made, if unexceptionally generic, family drama.