Film - Hong Kong Family

There seems to be a spate of Mandarin-language films at the moment. Ordinarily, I would find these when onboard a flight and watch them without having not heard of them. Instead, I am settling into my local Odeon (I switched to Odeon last month) to watch them having not heard of them.

The synopsis of this film doesn’t really do it justice. It’s about your standard dysfunctional family with one estranged member. It does make a difference when it’s a small family and the estranged member is one of two children. 

Add to that the parents don’t get along either and the daughter has lost direction. It’s as sad as the trailer suggests (now that I have seen it) and yet Hong Kong Family moves along nicely.

It’s wonderful to see Hong Kong, one of my favourite places, from the hills as I have done in the past. Other than that, nowhere is HK portrayed the way most of us know it. There are no shiny towers and lights. The only hint that this is a city packed with buildings is when we zoom down into the high-rise apartment blocs. Otherwise, for this whole film we see only the inside of homes and the occasional glimpse of a bus stop.

6½/10