Fu sheng

Clara Law's strengths are her provocative mise en scene and her playful seriousness. She also has a tendency to make structural leaps which, by forcing you to think through the story, ironically remove you from the story. This is a weakness, which fades upon repeat viewings of her work.

Floating Life is no different in this regard.

A traditional HK 'migration narrative', Floating Life tells the simplistic story of a family migrating from HK to Sydney. It is structured around a series of tableaux focusing on different family members.

However, Floating Life is a different film for law. It is her most personal.

It oozes emotional truth. Undoubtedly Law drew upon her own migration experience as well as that of her family [which migrated to Australia before she did]. It also draws heavily on pre-hand-over fears for its humanity. Even her typical whimsical humour creates a humanity for her characters.

And in the end, that is Floating LIfe's strength, the story of its characters. It is very moving.

For once (at least in her late period), Law's cinematic mastery has been subdued, or at least equalled by the emotional.

Worth hunting down.