Tin shui wai dik yat yu ye

What do movies tell us about what kind of people we are? Imagine the following: you are an alien from outer space, who is about to get into the space ship to visit planet Earth. Before you leave, you are instructed to learn as much as possible about the people and their culture who live on this planet. Your homework: to watch all the movies produced in the last year.

Think about what kind of image you would get from looking at what kind of movies we produce and watch as people. There is an abundance of Hollywood movies. You might think we are all American. Or that we imagine to be super heroes. So much special effects. How would our lives look like if they were like Hollywood movies? But of course, our lives are most of the time nothing like Hollywood movies.

Showing a movie that just portrays how we are would be boring. Would it not? Ann Hui doesn't think so. She provocatively titled her latest movie The Way We Are. Ann Hui is perhaps the most gifted story teller in Hong Kong, at least when it comes to film making. The same way Ozu chronicled the lives of Japanese society, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang documented the day-and-nights of Taiwanese people growing up, Ann Hui is the cultural biographer of Hong Kong.

When it comes to Hong Kong movies, most people might think of kung-fu stars, like Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan or Jet Li, or perhaps triad movies, made famous by John Woo, and more recently Johnnie To. Some might even think of Wong Kar Wai. But the films of Ann Hui are those who directly go to the core of what Hong Kong is about - but this core is as most of our lives perhaps unspectacular, mundane, and banal.

Ann Hui nevertheless manages to weave an incredibly rich story detailing the mundane lives of people in a part of Hong Kong that is often sensationalized: Tin Shui Wai. It's a part of town that is considered desolate, characterized by social problems, unemployment, with high buildings (some might think of them as Hong Kong's version of "the projects").

What is worth telling here is a story from a part of society that you otherwise would never see or hear. But that they don't exist in our popular imagination doesn't mean they exist, and it doesn't mean that we shouldn't know about. Most movies have spoiled the way we "consume" them: often slick, highly visualized, with something to grab our attention every three seconds (if not less). This movie by Ann Hui needs to be slowly taken in, with patience.

That is to say, our starting assumption should be that there are really no boring people. That every person has a story to tell, and that when they try to tell you their story, the least you could do is listen to them, with the patience and respect every human being deserves. Because, that's the way we are. Ann Hui, thank you for reminding us of this important lesson.

If you want to watch movies about special effects, explosives here & there or whatever, go rent Ironman or Transformers, this is Ann Hui's The Way We Are, some of you may complain of boredom, with the lack of pace in the story flow, I didn't, I wept.

What amazes me the most is it's simplicity, their daily lives, activities, family problems, those things that you might encounter everyday, & how to cherish them. You don't need to be an alien to become interested in this movie, if you feel bored, then this movie is definitely not for you.

I praise Ann's bravery in doing a film about our problems in life, especially in families, & she made me realize there is so much things in life than just fancy, branded goods & not to become enslaved by them.

The movie is like a virtual show of the life of a woman in the newly developed area of Hong Kong. It showcases the everyday life of the woman and her family. It arouses our shared memories. Ir provokes our sense of belongings to the city. A movie that is belonging to Hong Kong. A gem to record our daily life.

"Tin shui wai dik yat yu ye" ("The Way We Are" in English) is the first Ann Hui movie that I've seen, although I understand that she's a world-renowned director. The movie focuses on a widow and her son in a run-down part of Hong Kong. As the movie progresses, they meet other people, each with their own backstories.

This is sort of like a Jim Jarmusch movie, in that it's deliberately slow-moving and emphasizes the characters' relationships among each other. If you're the type who needs constant action, then you'll want to avoid this movie like the plague. Indeed, a previous reviewer found it pointless. I thought that it did a fair if not great job focusing on the people's interactions with each other in threadbare conditions. I think that it was in one of these sorts of apartments where Edward Snowden hid after exposing the NSA's spying apparatus, before he fled to Russia.

Apparently, durians have one of the strongest smells of any fruit.

Tagline: An excellent film about the basics of human beings…

Review by Neo: Sometimes, a film does not need to do much, nor does it require something extraordinarily to happen and it can still be a film that can relate, touch and affect one life. While, the usually dependable Ann Hui does not create a masterpiece, but it is probably safe to say that The Way We Are is very much a success story. After the bleakness shown in the city of sadness "Tin Shui Wai" with likes of Besieged City, the little Hong Kong city within borders of the mainland is filled with negative press, distinguishing of hopes and pure darkness. Here, director Hui is smart, by going back to the basics of filming, the very essence of human lives. The method taken is by filming a week or two in life of ordinary people. While it may seems that the film aren't doing much, not going anywhere, the film still somehow leaves the audience wanting more and leaving the credits with a glimpse of hope within the shambles.

Casting a ballet of untried actors in the likes of Bau Hei-Jing as the happy-go-lucky mother who works hard day and night to supporting her teenage son (Juno Leung Chun Lung) as a Duran fruit cutter and packer in the area's Welcome Supermarket. Life is not easy, in fact, it's difficult, but yet, Bau remains cheerful, hopeful and most important of all she is content of herself. On the other hand, we have her son, a reclusive young boy who prefers staying at home than going out. Then there are people who they bum into within their lives like the lonely grandmother living close by, or the random relatives who are much better off than they are. Not exactly a movie about the plot line or clever and intriguing premises, rather it is about the little things that happen in our real lives.

What makes the film work is that Ann Hui is very much a director who looks at human emotions, and the very fact that she does not create or fabricate emotions to affect the audience, but rather creates real emotions about the simple aspects of humanity and the happening. The casting of Bau is top notch, as she is natural enough for the audience to relate towards. Her optimistic nature, despite all that she has gone through makes her extremely human and ultimately realistic. Likewise, as her son, Juno Leung steps in with a good debut performance. In no situation does Leung tries to be acting, but instead remains real and without a moment of laughable overacting. Other supporting actors, such as the old granny, repeatedly making the same dish, further emphasis what happens when you get older and basically how people lives.

The Way We Are, is unlikely to splash any fire into Hong Kong cinema and nor does it attempt to. What Ann Hui is trying to show is that people in Tin Shui Wai are basically human and like all humans, we all need to eat, work and survive. There are little moments of happiness, sorrow, boredom, neutral and ultimately it is there basic human feelings that make this film works. Sometimes, criticizing something may well create some controversial, but at the end of the day, it remains rather subjective and opinionated. What Ann Hui is able to do, is at its very best being able to show something that seem more objective and somehow able to make the audience feel as though they are experiencing the experience firsthand. All in all, The Way We Are succeeds by showing the basic needs of humanity and ultimately, it is a day of reflection of our lives … (Neo 2009)

I rate it 9/10

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