| Future Milkyway founders Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai collaborated for the first time on this melodrama in the wake of To's success working on All About Ah Long (starring Chow Yun-Fat). Running a mere 80 minutes, it's no wonder he thrusts us into the life of Damian Lau's Li whose wife has just died. Not telling his young children Chien (Wong Kwan-Yuen) and Kang (Jeng Paak-Lam), they trio try to cope but broken promises, hospital bills, triad debts and in general a hellish hand continues to be dealt to the family. While the elder son Chien does try to act as a role model, all is crushed the more Li gets pushed around by the triads. It's all cinema distressing to almost the max from beginning to end, giving us no light and more importantly, no distinct belief from the director's chair. Considering To's debut The Enigmatic Case was quite the tour de force of subtle behaviour, it's definitely clear Johnnie was playing the commercial game while trying to find a footing (which he did eventually after forming Milkyway). Occasionally effective in his punishing ways, The Story Of My Son is merely extreme melodrama put out there in the hope that the masses will accept it because they're easily fooled. We aren't. Ng Man-Tat, Sunny Fang and Lau Siu-Ming (in the film's only subtle performance) also appear. |
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