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Anthony Wong and Crisel Consunji in Still Human (category IIB; English and Tagalog), directed by Oliver Chan.
LifestyleEntertainment

Review | Still Human film review: Anthony Wong, Crisel Consunji shine in heart-warming domestic help drama

  • Film set in Hong Kong follows a disabled middle-aged man and his young Filipino maid as they learn to embrace their lives again
  • Film by director Oliver Chan is nominated for a number of awards at the upcoming Hong Kong Film Awards
Chinese language cinema
Edmund Lee
Edmund Lee
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3.5/5 stars

One of Hong Kong’s most recognisable actors, the once-prolific Anthony Wong Chau-sang was largely shut out from major roles in Hong Kong-China co-productions  after he voiced support for the pro-democracy protesters during the 2014 “umbrella movement”.

It is understandable, then, that he would seek to channel the frustration into his down-on-his-luck character in Still Human, a low-key and sensitive domestic drama which has been earning acclaim since its premiere at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival in November. Wong’s best actor nod at the upcoming Hong Kong Film Awards caps a period of welcome respite.

Also marking the feature debut by Oliver Chan Siu-kuen, who is nominated in the best director, best screenplay and best new director categories at the awards, the film tells the heart-warming story of a disabled middle-aged man and his young Filipino maid (played by Hong Kong-based educator Crisel Consunji, also a best actress nominee) as they learn to embrace their lives again.

Paralysed from the chest down after a workplace accident and divorced from his wife, who has moved abroad with their teenage son (Himmy Wong Ting-him), former construction worker Leung Cheong-wing (Anthony Wong), confined to a wheelchair, is left to spend his days contemplating his existence in a cramped public housing estate flat.

That changes when his friendly former colleague, Fai (Sam Lee Chan-sum), finds him a new domestic helper after a series of unsatisfactory hires. Despite starting off with a language barrier – he doesn’t speak English, nor she a word of Cantonese – and a mutual distrust, the grumpy Cheong-wing and his recruit Evelyn Santos (Consunji), a former nurse, soon develop a great fondness for each other.

Apart from taking a leaf from the French megahit The Intouchables (2011), Still Human also echoes the case of Xyza Cruz Bacani, a former helper who launched her career as a professional documentary photographer with photos she took on her Sundays off. Here, Evelyn is an aspiring photographer who has temporarily given up her dreams to pay for an annulment from her abusive husband.
Consunji in Still Human.

While not quite on the same level as Ann Hui On-wah’s masterpiece A Simple Life (2011), Still Human, produced by Fruit Chan Gor (who also makes a brief cameo appearance), is one of those rare gems of a film which takes a distinctly Hong Kong scenario and turns it into a gently comical drama with universal appeal. Writer-director Oliver Chan is a major talent to watch out for.

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