Time

Ricky Ko’s satirical black comedy deftly balances a wry critique of social issues and a nostalgic nod to Hong Kong’s golden age of Cantonese cinema.

Australian premiere

Uncle Chau (Patrick Tse) isn’t living his best life. A far cry from his glory days as part of a hit squad – brilliantly evoked in a terrific, hyper-stylised flashback in the film’s opening scenes – Chau’s nephew fires him for being too slow on noodle-cutting duties at his food outlet; ironic, given Chau’s legendary proficiency with a blade. When his glamorous former co-assassin-in-crime, Fung, (Petrina Fung) gets the gang together at the Golden Phoenix Cabaret, Chau, Fung and fellow accomplice Chung (Lam Suet) discover a gap in the ‘assisted suicide’ market for the terminally ill who have been left to languish by an overwhelmed public health system. The trio take up a bustling side hustle as the Guardian Angels of the Elders, but Chau baulks when an admittedly annoying teenager, Tsz-ying, (Chung Suet-ying) seeks out their services for herself.

Ko handles loaded material with an assured and deft sensitivity to broader social forces at work; the social isolation and neglect of elders but also the confusion and vulnerability of teens like Tsz-ying, who finds herself sidelined by both her parents and boyfriend. The mutual cross-generational bewilderment between Tsz-ying and Chau is played for laughs – “he ghosted me after hooking up”, she explains; “you’re always talking Martian”, Chau despairs – but the push-pull co-dependency, tenderness and trust that develops between this oddball pair elicits real emotion.

– Roberta Ciabarra; Curator, Film