虎毒不 111 min., 2024 Hong Kong
Cantonese, Czech and English subtitles Director: Oliver Chan Distributor: Golden Scene
Jing (Hedwig Tam) gives birth, and her life is turned upside down. She and her husband Wai (Siuyea Lo) had longed for a child for six years, but caring for newborn Ching proves far more difficult than either of them had anticipated. Wai shows little interest in helping to care for the baby, whereas his mother (Janis Pang) becomes involved a little too much.
Oliver Chan made a strong impression eight years ago when she debuted with Still Human, a heartwarming comedy bursting with optimism. Montages of a Modern Motherhood strikes a markedly different tone. With unflinching honesty, it shows parenthood, postnatal depression, and the transformation of a woman’s body as a form of purgatory, oscillating between the genres of body horror and thriller. The film feels like a pressure cooker, getting closer to an explosion with every second. Chan vividly evokes the sense of isolation into which the mother gradually retreats, while her husband refuses to offer a helping hand and everyone else seems eager to give advice on how to handle everything properly. The light in the eyes of the outstanding Hedwig Tam becomes a little dimmer with each piece of unsolicited advice, each disregard from her husband and each dirty diaper. Yet she demonstrates the remarkable inner strength of a woman left to handle everything on her own despite being constantly surrounded by others. In her second feature film, Oliver Chan revisits the theme of personal resilience. This time the result is not boundless optimism, but a naturalistic portrayal of the struggle to survive another day, preserve one’s identity, and raise a child.
