ALL SHALL BE WELL Review: Quiet But Powerful Drama About Family and Other Troubles
An older lesbian couple, Angie (Patra Au Ga Man) and Pat (Maggie Li Lin Lin) have been together for over three decades and have shared a lovely home in Hong Kong for much of that time.
As they hold a gathering at their place for a Mid-Autumn Festival celebration, a broader family dynamic is introduced.
While Angie’s parents still don’t fully accept their relationship, referring to them as “best friends”, Pat’s relatives – her brother Shing (Tai Bo), his wife Mei (Hui So Ying), their son Victor (Leung Chung Hang) and daughter Fanny (Fish Liew Chi Yu), along with her husband and kids – seem to be fully involved in their life. There is a sense of true love and affection not only towards Pat but also Angie, so when the former quietly and unexpectedly dies in her sleep, it seems like her lifelong partner would still be surrounded by the same level of support.
But as life and art repeatedly teaches us, love is given most freely and easily when it doesn’t contradict self-interest.
All Shall Be Well is the fourth film directed by Ray Yeung, and among the previous three, it is most likely to be compared to Suk suk, also known as Twilight's Kiss. The 2019 film also participated in Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama, and centered around an older gay couple in Hong Kong facing personal and societal struggles.
The new film continues these themes both in spirit and style, but also manages to expand on them, as Angie, having emerged from the shock of the overwhelming grief, is first slapped with the logistics of her new reality in the form of funeral arrangements.
Since Hong Kong still doesn’t allow same-sex marriages, Angie has no rights or legal standing in deciding basically anything. The crack in her relationship with her family starts forming even before money really comes into play, when Shing seizes the opportunity to be the person who makes decisions, after years of being considered a “failure” after losing his business and working at a dead-end job. This is only the beginning, as Angie soon realizes that since Pat waited too long to finalize her will, she has no legal rights to the home they’ve built together.
As Shing, Mei and the younger generation bashfully but steadily rip Angie’s life as she knows it apart, it becomes clear it's not because they are horrible people. They are weighted down and overpowered by the economy, the city’s job and real estate markets, societal expectations, and generally life itself. It might seem like a lot of drama, and it is, but all the dramatics here are purposefully subtle.
This is a very quiet film, but by no means is it tranquil. As there is almost no music and only natural sounds of life can be heard, it’s one of those cinematic pieces that makes you listen carefully and by extension - look closely.
All Shall Be Well starts off with a melancholic color palette of muted yellows that is soon diluted to a gloomy mix of blues and greys. The surrounding space, first characterized by lived-in coziness, small trinkets and lots of food, is replaced by the images of an apathetic city filled with looming concrete blocks.
Ming Kai Leung’s cinematography further emphasizes the feeling of being lost by making the increasingly hostile world dissolve around Angie. In the end, Yeung’s film doesn’t really condemn anyone or anything, but it does raise some tough questions.
The answers to some of them should really be obvious by now (people should have equal rights, duh), while the others are more obsure. One incentive that is sure to stick with most viewers upon seeing the film: it’s never wise to postpone producing a detailed will.
The film opens today at New York's Film Forum via Strand Releasing.
