Benson Ng Ka Wai

Three phone calls and three long shots connecting three seemingly unrelated characters, probing into the untold hardship of ordinary hustlers in the world’s most expensive city, Hong Kong, as her charm slowly fades.

Family pains and abdominal cramps—anyone can allow their body to endure the turbulent intrusion alone. After living in Norway for years, Ling brings her foreign boyfriend home to Hong Kong. The family reunion is seemingly harmonious yet unspoken rifts and resentment will be revealed through family therapy. Will it end in reconciliation or a split-up? Bobby YU Shuk-pui, winner of Best Director at the 17th Fresh Wave, brings her family’s story to the silver screen. With real-life family members appearing on screen, the film examines intergenerational conflict through the lens of the young. With scenes of conversational therapy shot like direct cinema and shifting between fiction and reality through switching aspect ratios, the film faithfully and naturally presents the emotional vortex among family members.

People may say the wedding vow of having and holding each other “in sickness and in health”, but commitment is often tested. Emma takes her husband Ivan who is suffering from brain disorder to a distant beachside. Under the facade of camping, she contemplates something sinister, but is overwhelmed by memories of the husband before the illness kicked in, the sanctity of life, and the merits of mercy killing. Torn by emotions, she doubts her own intention.