THE NARROW ROAD, DIR. Lam Sum (2022)
To Kwa Wan, Hong Kong
B: Hello everyone, welcome to our podcast. I’m Belle.
E: I’m Emma.
B: Today we are going to talk about The Narrow Road. The Narrow Road is a 2022 Hong Kong drama film directed by Lam Sum.
E: This movie tells the story about a pair of working-class people in Hong Kong, Chak and Candy, who live hand-to-mouth at the height of Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the epidemic, the Hong Kong economy is in the doldrums and many shops are forced to close down, increasing the number of unemployed people in the community.
B: During such a challenging period, Chak, the male protagonist, still struggles to run an independent cleaning company. The unemployed heroine Candy, a single mother, works as a helper in Chak’s cleaning company in order to survive.
E: Chak and Candy, as representatives of the lower class in Hong Kong society, are as unnoticed as dust and their lives are as dim as the narrow road. But they still strive to help each other on their way forward, just as Chak says to Candy in the film, “We are all grains of dust, maybe God can’t see us, but it’s okay as long as we can see each other!” The film reveals that we’re all suffering in a way during the pandemic. However, if we hold on, we will see the dawn of hope.
B: As for the most noticeable space in the film, I think the subdivided flats Candy and her daughter live in is very worth discussing.
E: Yes, I agree with you. Because their flat reflects society’s problems. Facing the skyrocketing housing prices, the local grassroots have no choice but to live in subdivided flats. For example, Candy and her daughter start out living in a room less than 10 square meters in size downstairs in Chak’s cleaning company. In their small home, apart from a small bathroom, the only space left was packed with a bed and a small table. And the room was without air conditioning and windows.
B: Exactly! If a room without windows, the room will always be in the dark and have no ventilation system. Dark and narrow space in the movie reflects Candy was living a stressful and economically-embarrassed life.
E: That’s why Candy’s daughter could only see the view from the window at the end of the narrow corridor. Candy and her daughter had to use a small electric fan to relieve the heat and stick a painting on the wall as a “window”. The drawing of “window” carried the hope of their future.
B: But later, Candy had to move to a hotel because she did not have enough money to pay for her rent. The room in the hotel was even smaller than before, but it had a window. The view from the window is still the same as the narrow spacing between the buildings.
E: In contrast to the previous room, the light coming from the windows lights up the new small flat. The light also implies the hope that Candy and her daughter see in their lives. However, unlike the cramped room Candy and her daughter live in, the middle class’s homes presented in the movie not only have more rooms, but also have a stunning sea view through the balcony.
B: Presenting the contrast between the crowded space of the poor and the spacious space of the rich in the film, the director reveals that there is an intense economic inequality in our society. Even though many people of the underprivileged group work hard every day to earn more money, they still failed to pay for the rent of subdivided flats, not to mention to own a house. In this city with densely built skyscrapers, the working class are as negligible as dust.
E: In addition to the house where Candy lives, there is one more crucial space —— the room where the lonely death occurred. One scene in the movie shows that Chak and Candy work together to clean a house where a man is dying alone and remaining undiscovered for a long period of time. Since the death was not discovered for a long time, the body started to decompose and left traces on the floor.
B: After cleaning the house, Candy begins to think about the meaning of the existence of people like her in the society. From birth to death and finally leaving a stain in such a crowded space. Chak says that it is important to live in the present. The most important thing about living on earth is to help each other and to try to move forward even on the narrow path.
E: Most of the scenes of this film were filmed in To Kwa Wan. To Kwa Wan is an old district and it is located on the eastern shore of the Kowloon peninsula. Through field exploration, we gained a general understanding of the local living environment. Here are some pictures we took when we were on our field trip. There are many Tong lau in the To Kwa Wan area. Belle, do you know what Tong lau are?
B: I am not familiar with these buildings, can you give me some ideas?
E: Sure. Tong lau are tenement buildings built from the late 19th century to the 1960s in Hong Kong. These buildings are generally long and narrow. They are designed for not only residential use, but also commercial use. Nowadays, many Tong lau are renovated to become rental units, which are the subdivided flats. From the picture, we can see that most of the residential buildings in To Kwa Wan are dilapidated Tong lau, and many of them have damaged facades. On the facades of the buildings, we could see people hanging their clothes out of the windows as there is no extra space inside for drying clothes.
B: Also, we found that the distance between the buildings is also very narrow in order to build more buildings. These features make To Kwa Wan a typical example of the living conditions of the lower class in Hong Kong. In contrast to the film, many shops in To Kwa Wan have started operating normally nowadays. Most of the shops are hardware shops, grocery stores and street markets. In contrast to the shops in the city center, the shops in the residential area sell affordable household goods. As the background of the story in the film is set among the low-income people of Hong Kong, the location had to be close to the background of the characters’ lives. Therefore, To Kwa Wan was a suitable location for ‘The Narrow Road’.
E: The above content is our understanding about ‘The Narrow Road’. Thank you for listening.
References
Kerr, Elizabeth. 2022. “Portrait of a City: The Narrow Road – Hong Kong.” ZOLIMA CITYMAG. https://zolimacitymag.com/hong-kong-portrait-city-the-narrow-road-lam-sum/.
“The Narrow Road (2022 film).” n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed March 22, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Narrow_Road_(2022_film).
“Tong lau.” n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed March 22, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_lau#Architecture.
— Chen Yuxin 3036099526, Xie Hanyu 3036067119
It is interesting that you have chosen a newly released film that closely relates to the living space of Hong Kong’s lower-class during the pandemic context. However, there is a disconnect: your film analysis shows in-depth observation and reflection of the domesticity, while your field trip focused more on the building facade. This leads to a lack of cohesive links between the film and your field trip. For the limited access to domesticity, I would suggest making up your field trip through online investigation, such as photography, documentary, Vlog, etc. There are several questions worth further reflection on: What cinematic techniques does the director use to capture subdivided flats? How is this film different from previous films about subdivided flats? Is there any reflection expended based on lectures, tutorials, and readings? Furthermore, a more conversational podcast would greatly enhance the appeal of your work.