Director - Ann Hui
Genre - Drama
Ann Hui's film is quite classy and masterful. It
feels like a waft of soothing breeze, a warm embrace of motherly love
and a renewed appreciation for life all rolled into one. If that isn't a
stroke of classy filmmaking, what is? Another great feature of this picture
is the effortless, obvious chemistry between Deannie Yip and Andy Lau. Their closeness in real life is well known with Yip being a godmother
of sorts to Lau. This close relationship they share translates very well
on the screen and we believe their loves for each other. Yip plays a
maid (Tao Jie) to Roger (Lau) who is now old and unable to provide her
loyal service to the family. She checks herself into an old folks' home
but Roger is still very worried for her, visiting and accompanying her
whenever he gets the chance. Tao Jie's stay in the senior's home is not all
that rosy and she is taken advantage of sometimes because of her good
nature, but she carries on and Roger's visits give her the strength to
live. Ann Hui's direction gives so much without showing everything, her
restraint in not painting Tao Jie's character as pitiful lets Tao Jie
appear gracefully strong-willed, a woman who dedicated her whole life to a
family that is not her own yet never had any regrets. From her we learn the true meaning of sacrifice, as we believed Roger understood in the end as
well. That is the real meaning of the movie. Sacrifice. We take back what we
said in the beginning. Ann Hui's latest isn't just quite masterful, it is an
elegant depiction of life on earth as seen through the eyes of someone
who treasured life no matter what came her way.
5 STARS!
All about A Simple Life
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