Ann Hui

LIFE

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A SIMPLE

Action hero and Cantopop star Andy Lau and real-life godmother Deanie Ip team up as a movie producer and his lifelong maid in A Simple Life, Ann Hui’s unique portrait of old age, compassion and family ties. Ah Tao (Ip) has worked for a well-to-do Hong Kong family for forty years, but she’s always had a soft spot for the youngest, Roger (Lau). When the rest of the family leave for life in America, Ah Tao stays behind to look after her sole remaining charge, now a fully-fledged adult and high-flying film producer. But when a seismic change shakes up their relationship, circumstances conspire to make

Words and design

Avalon Lyndon

them finally realise quite how much they mean to each other. We’re eased into a humdrum opening scene as Ah Tao prepares a meal for Roger’s dinner. As it’s set down in front of him, without a thank you in sight, Roger takes the chance to complain that he would have

preferred ox tongue. Some people, eh? Cutting these shots with a few glimpses of a cat lapping away at a saucer of milk, Ann Hui makes her point pretty clear. Little Roger’s the cat that got the cream, and he doesn’t realise quite how good he has it. It’s that creeping sense of

move out into a nursing home. But with her departure, both Ah Tao and Roger find themselves suddenly and surprisingly alone. Roger seems uninspired by his flashy lifestyle and flashier mates and finds himself drawn back to Ah Tao, the woman who has loved him like a mother all of his life.

run-of-the-mill ingratitude that Ah Tao has become all too used to. But when Ah Tao suffers a stroke in the family home, their relationship is turned on its head. Finding herself semi-paralysed and not wanting to be a burden on anyone, she decides to retire and

“A Simple Life is a frank, low-key and

down-to-earth depiction of renewed

affection and aging with dignity.”

If all this sounds a little too much like mulchy slush-puppy sentimentalism, don’t be put off. Ann Hui doesn’t package up this family portrait in showy melodrama. Instead, A Simple Life is impressively economical with its emotion. When Roger fails to correct the nursing home staff who describe him as her godson, this silent little beat of a moment speaks more than teary declarations of love every could. A bleached-out sepia-toned colour palette holds a mirror to this stripped-down approach. Never allowing itself to be bogged down by its subject matter, A Simple Life is a film that celebrates the beauty of human relationships. It’s surprisingly playful, with a real twinkle in its eye. Watching Roger and Ah Tao giggling away while a doctor tries to fill them in on what’s going on genuinely gave me a lump in my throat. A Simple Life is a frank, low-key and down-to-earth depiction of renewed affection and aging with dignity. Ann Hui’s film makes you take stock of what and who you have in the world. It makes you crave those stolen moments with people you might have taken for granted. It’s a story about the dignity of helping others and the joy of giving back. But, most of all, A Simple Life is about the connections that run deeper than genes, the families we construct from more than blood alone. There might not be much fanfare or bombast surrounding this release, but it’s one that deserves to be seen. A beautiful little film that comes thoroughly recommended.

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