The Way We Are (Chinese) 2008

November 20, 2008 · Posted in Chinese Movies, Drama

Aka : Tin shui wai dik yat yu ye
Year : 2008
Country : Hong Kong
Language : Cantonese
Subtitle(s) : English
Film Genre : Drama
IMDB : The Way We Are

Director : Ann Hui (Boat People)
Writer : Lui Yau-Wah
Cast : Hee Ching Paw, Chun-lung Leung, Idy Chan, Lai-wun Chan, Vincent Chui, Clifton Ko

Plot/Synopsis

Dubbed the “City of Sadness”, Hong Kong’s Tin Shui Wai became the subject of much local scrutiny in 2007 and 2008 for its myriad socioeconomic problems and tragic fallouts. The city’s high rates of suicide, unemployment, domestic violence, and youth crime raised a red flag that exploded in the media after a series of headline-splashing suicides. Tin Shui Wai quickly became the backdrop for two films - Lawrence Lau’s gritty youth film Besieged City and Ann Hui’s low-key docudrama The Way We Are - that provide two very different visions of life in the City of Sadness. While Lau’s tale of wayward teens highlighted the city’s much-publicized problems, Ann Hui (The Postmodern Life of My Aunt, Boat People) steadfastly avoids sensationalism or drama in her organic study of the way people are in Tin Shui Wai. (Read More)