A Simple Life (2011/Well Go USA
Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: D Film: A
Roger
(Andy Lau) is a successful movie director. For the last 70 years, he and his family have
been taken care of by their family maid/nanny, but after a suffering a stroke
Ah Tao, wishing not to be a burden, decides to retire and go into a nursing
home for the elderly. It is only after
Ah Tao is gone does Roger realized how important she has been in his life, he
returns her kindness by now becoming her caregiver and surrogate family in Ann
Hui’s A Simple Life (2011).
Roger y
has been raised by a single family maid for over the last 4 generations, but
getting too old, she enters the home for old people. Without any relatives, Roger soon becomes the
son she never had. As he visits her he
learns of what happens to the elderly, how they are crammed into small cubical
rooms, the loneliness they share with others who are like them, and the
helplessness as their bodies fail them. Roger feels bad and tries to make her final
days happy ones.
This was
an amazing touching film, a story of how people treat the elderly in the modern
day China;
how people care for one another and how they treat them in their final days are
hallmarks of if you had lived a good life and the people you leave behind. It reminds people of how to respect for their
elders and should care for them, so when they die it will be with a bit of
dignity.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is as good as this film could
possibly look being shot on an older RED One HD camera, but I liked the look,
performance and feel throughout, while the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mix is well recorded, warm and well presented throughout. Unfortunately, there are no extras, but don’t
miss this film!
- Ricky Chiang
