ReviewElisa’s Day movie review: Hong Kong drama, starring Ronald Cheng and Hanna Chan, finds tragic story in true-crime roots

3/5 stars

Tragedy spawns tragedy in this debut feature from Hong Kong writer-director Alan Fung Chi-hang, who was inspired by a true-life crime-of-passion case from the 1990s for his screenplay. Rather than treating the sensationalist content as a climactic moment to build his story towards, Fung takes a deliberate approach to the character-driven drama, which is admirable for its narrative ambition, albeit not entirely successful in execution.

After a brief opening scene in which former police sergeant Fai (Ronald Cheng Chung-kei) is about to pick up his adopted daughter from prison, Elisa’s Day takes us back to the time Fai finds that young woman, Daisy (model Carol To Hei-ling in her first major film role), in an interrogation room after being arrested as a drug mule, and recognises her as the daughter of a couple whose lives he felt partly responsible for ruining nearly 20 years ago.

The sorrowful drama then jumps all the way back to 1996, when the 15-year-old Elisa (Hanna Chan) learns that she’s pregnant with the child of street thug Wai (Tony Wu Tsz-tung). She gives birth to the undocumented Daisy and the trio secretly settle in Tuen Mun; soon after, Wai leaves his wife and daughter behind for years on end – first to avoid arrest after committing a violent crime for his gang boss, and later to try to make a living in China.

A portrait of loneliness and regret anchored by a quartet of strong performances, Elisa’s Day nevertheless fails to form a memorable whole from its often intriguing parts. Relying on simplistic chapter headings – such as “Elisa’s home” or “Man Wai’s burden” – to lend structure to the fragmented story, Fung appears to lack confidence in his own storytelling, and his film suffers for the lack of narrative momentum as a result.