Home Sweet Home

Year:2005
Director:Soi Cheang Pou-Soi
Cast:Karena Lam Ka-Yan, Shu Qi, Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Tam Chun-Ho, Lam Suet, Li Peng, Matthew Chow Hoi-Kwong
Description:
Hong
Kong realtors had best steer prospective clients away
from Home Sweet Home. This horror thriller from
director Soi Cheang posits
the real estate buyer's nightmare. Imagine if you bought
a HK$4.5 million dollar flat in a swank new high-rise,
only to discover that the building is haunted by a disfigured
and emotionally unstable woman who rummages through
your trash and may even kidnap your kids. Of bigger
concern: the local cops suck hard and the housing management
is even more ineffectual. Not only do they let crazy
lady Yan Hong roam all over the estate,
but they let her nemesis, harried mother May ,
crawl through the air conditioning ducts and generally
make a mess of the place in search of her missing child.
Yes, it's sad that two emotionally damaged women are
fighting over lost children, but really, do they have
to make life hell for their neighbors?
But Home Sweet Home
is not the story of the inconvenienced neighbors, nor
is it a really much of a thriller. Instead, Home
Sweet Home is a dour, depressing, and downright
unrewarding melodrama about flawed women who get stuck
in distressingly sad situations. In May's case, she's
an introvert who only cares for husband Ray and son Chi Lo . May would rather
spend her time playing alone with Chi Lo than chatting
with her neighbors - though her passive nature gets
put aside when Chi Lo is snatched by grotesque Yan Hong,
who's eyed Chi Lo ever since he set foot into the complex.
Yan Hong's deal isn't revealed right away. In the beginning
she just appears to be a deranged woman who inhabits
the building like your proverbial "Phantom of the
Housing Estate". But, as the film progresses, her
sad, pathetic story ultimately gets revealed.
The revelation:
that Yan Hong had a sad, pathetic life that knew plenty
of misfortune. It also knew plenty of bad parenting,
as some of what occurs to Yan Hong isn't the fault of
anyone but herself. Karena Lam is photogenic in the
flashbacks and grotesque in the present day, and she
does a decent job selling the character in either physical
state. What she doesn't do is prove to us that Yan Hong
is necessarily worth sympathizing with. Sure, her lot
in life was crappy, and her emotionally-devastated stares
are heartbreaking. But ultimately, what's revealed about
Yan Hong isn't enough to make her that sympathetic -
especially when you factor in her acts of violence and
kidnapping.
In contrast, Shu Qi's
May is totally sympathetic, as she's an out-and-out
victim whose major fault is that she doesn't seem to
own any pants. In a minor, though ridiculous detail,
May always wears skirts - even when crawling through
ventilation ducts, or when preparing to meet Yan Hong
mano-a-mano. Still, despite May's lack of a functional
wardrobe, the audience should definitely be on her side,
and her plight takes on a noticeable intensity thanks
to that. Throughout the entire film, May must fight
alone, as the cops, her neighbors, and the nonexistent
management of the housing estate pretty much write her
off as paranoid and delusional. Of course, given the
fact that her kid did disappear in a frighteningly odd
way, you'd think that someone would show a little more
concern for her. The neighbors and housing management
seem to not care that a child abduction has occurred
in their supposed safe community. While May's solitary
struggle may be compelling, it's also somewhat unbelievable.
Director Soi Cheang does
create some genuine pathos, and his characters and their
situations can be remarkably felt. The resulting film
comes off as intense and compelling - if you can forgive
the film's lack of credibility. Aside from the mystifyingly
crappy neighbors, the cops are laughably ineffective,
and seem to exist only to act skeptical or get in May's
way. Home Sweet Home does possess a compelling
and gripping pace, but once the plot holes become apparent,
the film starts to seem overdone, and even borderline
inane. Karena Lam and Shu Qi's gutsy performances come
off as overacting, and the nakedly horrified performance
of child actor Tam Chun-Ho starts to look wild-eyed
and over-the-top. It would have been better if Home
Sweet Home had been tighter and more confined, but
the sheer expanse of the setting makes the plot holes
hard to cover.
Home Sweet Home does
possess a few emotional hooks that manage to leave an
impression. At some point, the line between the two
mothers blurs, and the resulting moments pack a solid
emotional punch. It's those one or two moments that
make Home Sweet Home at least partially worthwhile.
Soi Cheang works overtime to get the audience to care,
and if he doesn't succeed in even the tiniest way then
the viewer is likely a robotic human being that could
never grasp the sheer desperation and frustration of
a mother who's lost their child. The actresses certainly
spill sufficient sweat, blood, and tears to sell the
emotions, and their effort is appreciated. On emotion
alone, Home Sweet Home is pretty good stuff.
But as a complete motion picture, it's not so pretty.