After 60 years working for a family as a maid, Ah Tao, played
excellently by Deanie Ip, suffers a stroke and so retires. Not wanting to be
a burden, she chooses to live in a retirement home in conditions much worse
than she is used to. Lau plays Roger, the sole member of the family Ah Tao
worked for to remain in Hong Kong, who takes time to visit Ah Tao as often as
possible in tween his busy career in film production and learning to cook and
clean for himself for once.
That’s it: plain and simple. Films like this demand good performances
from the cast, more so than creative direction or writing, and the two leads
deliver, notably Ip as the looks-far-too-good-to-be-in-her-seventies Ah Tao. Lau
is also good in a role that sees him have to deal more with shooting facial
expressions than shooting a gun. Smaller roles are often played by uber-mega-colossal
stars of Hong Kong cinema. Sammo Hung, Raymond Chow, Hark Tsui and Anthony Wong,
to name a few, all pop up here and there, adding a sense of humour while
watching.
While the film is designed to be emotional and sad, there is no doubt
that old people are funny, with facial expressions and stupid behaviour
aplenty, giving the film a good balance.
You can’t expect an explosive film, but it never tries to be, with Ann
Hui’s work being simple, yet effective.
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