A movie that is represented by names of two songs, a Chinese one for the film's Chinese title and "Fly Me to the Moon" for its English title with each suggesting one side of the common and yet different views of the unattainable or the wishful, where we live on by doing our best in spite of life's short falls and where we find solace and comfort that may seem small in gestures to most, but are actually significant in meaning to the giver and perhaps even the recipient for we are bonded together as humans. The film places us as silent observers by gently ripping open the curtain and leads us into lives of a family of mainlanders who try to survive, integrate, sustain as a family and grow as individuals in the metropolis of Hong Kong. The realism and the subtleties of the portrayals is a tribute to the artistry and craftsmanship of the director and the cast. Here I get to see once again, the superb performance of Kang Ren Wu. But because the approach in this film is very cinéma vérité, the camera decidedly took a more distance, more observing and more detached approach. Therefore, sometimes I wish I could get more involved with the characters through stronger dramatization by way of the cinematography and the editing. But that's just a matter of choice by the convention of the chosen style. Other than the performances, the cinematography, the art direction, the editing and the music are harmoniously orchestrated together into a symphony of how life is making the best of what it got because this is life. In closing, this is a film which I highly recommend. Just the performances are worth the price of the ticket.
Review of Fly Me to the Moon
