This film stars the director's mother. The main character was widowed long ago and now is on the brink of retirement.
The mother longs for connection with her two children and revisits her past by scheduling a family vacation in a house where she had happy times with her family in the past.
This film reminds me a bit of Lost in Translation in that the mother travels to Hong Kong to visit her son- who is away when she arrives- and she explores the city on her own, discovering things about herself in the process.
The film embodies the French concept of depayse.
Many of the actors are actually people known to the director during his time living in Hong Kong rather than being professional actors. Scenes include footage of the protests in Hong Kong.
Intriguing, poignant, and familiar territory for a parent with grown children.
Recommend this!
Plot summary
Anke retires from her job at the church in a small town in the Black Forest. She looks forward to reuniting with her children over the summer holidays by the Baltic Sea, at a place where they used to live as a young family, and where she lived her best years. At the last minute, her son Max is unable to join them because of the pro-democracy protests that are bringing Hong Kong, where he lives, to a standstill. She has been out of touch with him for many years and after an otherwise uneventful summer and facing the void of retirement, she decides to visit him. A mother wants to check in on her children every now and then, but Hong Kong is also her adventure. She takes up residence in his flat while Max is away on a business trip and cautiously begins to navigate this mysterious new world. Through conversations with strangers, she gradually settles in. A young woman who is sad to leave Hong Kong, Max's doorman, a psychiatrist, a fortune teller and a social activist. These encounters and her experience of the city help her to break down the inner walls she constructed years ago and make way for a new chapter in her life.
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