The Narrow Road centres on -- and is anchored by -- an ordinary hero (Film review)

  

What may be the last Hong Kong film I'll view in 2022

 

The Narrow Road (Hong Kong, 2022)

- Lam Sum, director

- Starring: Louis Cheung, Angela Yuen, Tung On-na

 

Not so long ago, a film friend complained to me that the protagonists of contemporary Hong Kong movies tend to be losers rather than heroes.  While I'd accept that many recent Hong Kong movies have had main characters who are neither super heroic nor larger than life, I still think that they can be classified as ordinary heroes: people who manfully make the best of bad situations, and show their humanity along the way.  That description fits the protagonists of such as Still Human (2018),  Zero to Hero (2021).  I think also of the main characters of Madalena (2021), a film that shares the same lead actor as The Narrow Road.  

 

Louis Cheung appears to have become the "go to" actor for filmmakers looking for a male star who convinces as a working class Everyman that is a diamond in the rough; this not least in terms of his ability and willingness to care for women whom he sees more good in than they might do so about themselves.  In Lam Sum's The Narrow Road, Cheung plays Chak, the operator of a one man cleaning company which is struggling to make a profit but whose services are increasingly in demand thanks to the ongoing pandemic, as well as the filial son of a mother (portrayed by Petra Au) whose ways of thinking and acting -- including with regards to wanting to reuse surgical masks and thinking she's going to win big at the lottery or with a bet on a horse -- Hong Kongers will find all too alternately amusing and frustratingly familiar.

 

With his workload increasing and his back aching, Chak decides to hire an assistant.  Enter Candy (played by Angela Yuen), a single mother with no professional cleaning experience but with the requisite energy and, more importantly, willingness to do the job for the low wages that Chak initially offers.  Early on, Candy gives ample indication that she might well prove to be trouble.  But she -- or, maybe, actually, more so her precocious young daughter, Chu (essayed by Tung On-na) -- is charming enough to get the good-hearted Chak caring for both daughter and mother.   

 

If truth be told, I had problems feeling sympathy, never mind empathy, for Candy -- and I'm not entirely sure whether this was intentional.  Also, while there may be some who might think that Chu's cute, I didn't.  On the other hand, I did appreciate that the young girl made many "from out of the mouths of babes" pronouncements that were spot on with regards to what's going on in Hong Kong; including about how many people are leaving Hong Kong, and who are the types of people who are able to do so vis a vis who are staying -- and/or are left -- behind.

 

Alternatively, it's easy enough to feel for Chak, and respect his efforts to do his job properly and professionally, be it cleaning -- and sanitizing or disinfecting -- a gym, medical clinic, cha chaan teng or the home of someone who recently died there.  His life may be a limited one in terms of prospects for upward mobility or even opportunities for luxuries (including going away for a holiday abroad or even dining on Korean barbecue).  But The Narrow Road's emotional anchor appears to take quiet pride in his ability to stay on the straight and narrow path even if he's not entirely certain where it will take him.

 

At the Golden Horse Awards last month, The Narrow Road's Wong Hin-yan came away with the prize for Best Original Film Score.  For my part, I reckon that the film's cinematographer Meteor Cheung deserves kudos, if not an actual award, for his work in crafting evocative visuals: including of a Hong Kong that has fallen on hard times; with many shop fronts shuttered and life taking place in unglamorous surroundings far away from the Central business district that may well feel foreign to many Hong Kongers.

 

It may ostensibly be a drama about a nobody but The Narrow Road says much about the current state of Hong Kong.  Still, lest one think its tale is an entirely downbeat one, remember this about Hong Kongers: they are survivors.  And even while it also does not deny that their home city's future is uncertain, this cinematic offering made by Hong Kongers for Hong Kongers does show them to be so.          

 

My rating for this film: 7.0