re:mote voices

Title: Floating Life
Cast: Annette Shun Wah, Annie Yip, Anthony Wong, Edwin Pang, Cecilia Fong Sing Lee, Toby Wong, Toby Chan, Julian Pulvermacher, Bruce Poon
Director: Clara Law

Other than the films In The Mood For Love and Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress, the only director who has work showing in this season of Chinese films who I had seen anything by in the past was Fruit Chan. The director of the memorable made in Hong Kong had a couple of films billed to appear in this season, however for some reason his first Little Cheung was pulled, and replaced by Floating Life.

Floating Life is another film by director Clara Law, so that it seems strange that the first two films in the Chinese film season I catch are both set in Australia. However unlike The Goddess Of 1967, Floating Life has more of a Chinese theme, and is a sprawling thing. With floating life I am reminded of the scene in happy together by Wong War Wai, where two Chinese characters in Argentina discuss how many Chinese people there really are and just how wide spread in a global sense they are. That sentiment seems to be one of the major ideas at the core of floating life, in fact even being part of the title one could assume.

Hong Kong has been part of the British empire, or at least what remains of it, but is due to be returned to the Chinese. With this the Chan family have decided it is time to leave Hong Kong. The family has five children, the two oldest daughters have already left – one having a family in Germany, the other in Australia. Along with their two youngest sons the family decide to move to Australia to join the second daughter. Though the film is split into chapters, covering time in Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, and flashing back to the past, before wrapping things up in a final forward looking piece.

Things do not go entirely as planned in Australia, second daughter Bing has become neurotic. Which initially provides a sense of humour, warnings of attack dogs, killer bees, snakes, spiders, the sun – Bing warns her family of the grim horrors that lurk outside, even in the back door step of Australia. Gradually this becomes a problem for the family – they suddenly can’t light incense to pay tribute to their ancestors thanks to the fire risk, they can’t eat what they would normally eat due to the fat content. It starts to feel like they are prisoners.

This leads to confrontation, especially when first daughter arrives for a visit from Germany. The parents gaining some ability to be free once number one son finally resolves what he is going to do and sells the parental home for the family in Hong Kong. All along the way though we see the different situations of the family members, and how this affects their sense of identity. From light-hearted beginnings Floating Life becomes quite heavy. The number one son is forced by events to face up to the fragility of his fun loving life style and how this really shakes him up. In his thread the particularly striking scenes are the digging up of his ancestors to place their bones in an urn, and how this contrasts with the side effects of his own life. For the oldest daughter the most striking scene is the realisation that she has no home, no identity, feeling that as some one from Hong Kong she is not proper Chinese – speaking Cantonese rather than mandarin, coming from an island that is about to lose it’s own identity, and living in Germany where she can never be German. But it is the resolution of relationships with second daughter that really bring everything to light and force understanding and survival.

Underlining the sense of identity the film takes place in multiple countries and languages. Starting in Hong Kong in Cantonese, moving to Australia and English, then flashing over to Germany and German, then back to Hong Kong and Cantonese, before returning to Australia. Within this there are also several scenes where we witness the continuing themes of identity and immigration. The first scene, a noodle bar, where Papa Chan discusses his move to Australia, with the owner who, will soon move to Canada. The eldest son’s encounter with a girl who has been living in Canada since she was a child, and has only returned to Hong Kong for the first time now. Then, again, Papa Chan’s meeting up with an old friend in the city, where trying to track whether old friends are still alive, or whether they are in Seattle or Vancouver or Sydney or the old country makes up much of the conversation. Floating Life is an emotive film, filled with little scenes like these, which build together to provide a detailed bigger picture.