Still Human 淪落人 (2018) - Hong Kong
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
This is a heart warming tale of giving and pursuing of a dream and a better life despite all odds. It’s the classic tearjerker that remains very real as we see strongly developed characters interacting, going by their daily lives and more importantly a story about the often forgotten humans of Hong Kong, the domestic helper and the disabled. Director and writer Oliver Chan is simply spot on in her feature debut as she crafted a beautiful film about hope, dreams and what it means to be human.
With a strong performance from the versatile Anthony Wong (in a rare big screen role) as the disabled elderly and Crisel Consunji as the domestic helper with big dreams of becoming a photographer. Wong interacts with Consunji with wonderful chemistry as the two gets lost in translation. In the scene where Wong sees the picture of himself and the red balloon rescind into a much deeper self reflection of both achievement, pride and fulfilment. Similarly we get a beautiful performance from stage performer Crisel Consunji as she switches between broken Cantonese and English to portray a tough yet kind hearted dreamer and aspiring photographer. Cecilia Yip makes a brilliant cameo as Wong’s long suffering sister and Sam Lee makes one of his better performance in recent years as the sentimental friend.
All in all, “Still Human” shows how powerful and impactful by having a dream and it is ultimately the hope and the selfless giving and helping others to pursue a dream that makes the film extremely relatable and human. With Anthony Wong in top award winning form and an excellent debut performance from Crisel Consunji, director and screenwriter Oliver Chan strikes pure gold and hardly put a foot wrong in this near perfect inspirational tale of the untold. Producer Fruit Chan appears in a short cameo as street hawker owner and looks proud with his prodigy in the making.
I rated it 9/10