My Dear Son - Money Troubles and Family Ties

Aug

18

My Dear Son - Money Troubles and Family Ties

≡ Category: Drama, Hong Kong, Movie Reviews By Country, Recommended |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Drama
Director: David Chiang
Year: 1989

Rating:

TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE

I have a special soft spot for movies like My Dear Son that are culturally specific to Hong Kong society. To me, it’s a priviledge to learn about the prevalent social mores in another country. In the case of My Dear Son, the conflicts are fueled by attitudes about class and wealth.

The first thing you have to understand about Hong Kong is that there is no social welfare system to speak of. You want your kids to go to school? Pay for it. Need to go to the hospital? Pay for it. Don’t have money to buy food? Too bad. Starve and die.

So, somehow, someway, you have to make money. That’s another thing about Hong Kong society. It is even less mobile than ours. If you don’t have connections or a family with money, it’s difficult to move up. White collar jobs that are open to people of lower social status are rare. You do what you have to do, whether it’s being a hostess in a bar (which requires that you have to drink a lot of alcohol, at the very least), sing bawdy songs in the public square for tips, or join a criminal triad organization.

Which brings us to a third aspect of social life in Hong Kong. Poor people are looked down on, particularly if they have a job that’s humiliating or borderline illegal.

My Dear Son is about one person’s efforts to break out of the cycle of poverty and what that does to the people around him. It’s a full-on melodrama in the Hong Kong style. That means the filmmaking is crude and the emotions are full-throttle.

For people who are used to kitchen sink realism in heavy dramas, the acting in My Dear Son will probably come across as inept, but that really isn’t true. It’s just that everyone is going really big.

Widower Dad (Bill Tung) has brought up his three children by himself by singing bawdy songs in the public square for tips. (Unfortunately, the lyrics aren’t subtitled.) Cheung (Jacky Cheung) is ashamed of his father, having been teased by his classmates all through school about his father’s job. Cheung finally manages to get a white collar job, but is unable to pursuade his father to retire. The stakes are high. If Cheung doesn’t succeed in his job, the only other viable source of income lies in working with his triad friend, played by Lau Ching-Wan.

At first, things seem to be going well for Cheung. He proves to be capable at his job, and the big boss’ sister develops a romantic interest in him. But when the boss (Paul Chun) learns that Cheung’s father sings bawdy songs in the public square, he demands through an intermediary that Cheung break off the relationship with his sister.

Things go from bad to worse, and soon enough, Cheung finds himself embroiled with the triads. Will Cheung’s dad be able to save his son from the consequences of his choices?

Fortunately, Cheung’s dad has some help from Dipsomaniac (Maggie Cheung), who makes her living by drinking with clients in a hostess bar.

The filmmakers don’t seem to share Hong Kong society’s contempt for the lower class. They are more apt to bemoan the tendency of the rich to screen out anyone not like themselves, and deny opportunity to the lower class.

But most of all, they’re interested in the friendships between these lower class folks, especially the bond between father and son, and how that can become strained by matters of money and class.

Director David Chiang manages to create an emotionally rich film. He’s helped by some excellent performances. Bill Tung is a crackup as the singing dad, but he can break your heart, too. Maggie Cheung is excellent as usual, conveying the warmth and compassion of this bargirl that no one respects, and the underlying melancholy that comes with her place in the world. Lau Ching-Wan does a lot with an underwritten part. He’s convincing, whether as a friend or as a triad. The look of concern on his face after a murderous rampage by his friend Cheung is touching. Ricky Yi makes a wonderfully vicious hoodlum as usual.

If there is a weakness in My Dear Son, it’s the action scenes, which tend to be underlit and indifferently choreographed. It’s doubly disappointing since the close quarters fighting that’s featured in My Dear Son is so often superb in pictures from this period. It’s a good thing that My Dear Son is overwhelmingly concerned with relationships and emotions or the mediocre action would drag down the film.

The climax goes a long way towards mitigating this effect. Bill Tung’s father makes one last ditch effort to stave off disaster for his son Cheung. Does he succeed? I ain’t gonna tell, but if you aren’t moved by his efforts and their results, you should get a job evicting families from their homes because you have a heart of ice.

If only the action scenes had been as effective as the drama, My Dear Son might have been a classic.