- Adapted from a 2010 novel by popular romance author Amy Cheung, the film is a touching and quietly poignant reflection on the importance of family ties
- It’s an astonishingly assured return to form for director Heiward Mak, and already a front-runner for next year’s Hong Kong Film Awards
4.5/5 stars
A Hong Kong woman rediscovers the treasure of family ties after her father's death in this exquisite and quietly poignant drama. Produced by Ann Hui On-wah and adapted from a 2010 novel by popular romance author Amy Cheung Siu-han, Fagara features the best role in years for Canto-pop superstar Sammi Cheng Sau-man, and looks set to be a front-runner at next year's Hong Kong Film Awards.
The film marks the astonishingly assured return to feature directing of former prodigy Heiward Mak Hei-yan, who made her promising debut at age 23 with teen drama High Noon (2008), but has fallen off the radar a bit since she made a pair of poorly received commercial films " idiosyncratic relationship drama Ex (2010) and superficial showbiz satire Diva (2012) " and endured battles with depression.
Cheng plays Acacia, a travel agent who suddenly receives news of the death of her father, Ha Leung (Kenny Bee), in hospital. Having long resented him for his infidelity to her mother, Acacia is nonetheless overcome with emotions when she learns of the existence of Branch (Megan Lai Ya-yan, 10,000 Miles ) and Cherry (Li Xiaofeng, Youth ) " her two sisters, both from different mothers, that she never met.
The biggest laugh of this serene film comes during the funeral, when Acacia shows just how estranged she and dad were " by mixing up his religion. But the sisters hit it off amid their shared sense of abandonment: Branch, a Taiwanese snooker player, has never felt a part of her mother's new family; while Cherry, a Chinese fashion vlogger, is alternately bemused and annoyed by her grandma's concerns about her love life.
With a premise that may remind some of recent release The Lady Improper , Fagara sees its protagonists re-evaluate the generational disconnect via their efforts to revive the failing business " and signature soup base " of dad's spicy hotpot restaurant in the cosy neighbourhood of Tai Hang. By playing down the romantic undertone of Cheung's book, Mak's tale of pain and forgiveness instead resonates at a far more fundamental level.
The ensemble of delicately written characters " also including Richie Jen Hsien-chi as an unwittingly smitten anaesthetist and Andy Lau Tak-wah as Acacia's nominal partner and would-be husband " are uniformly excellent. That writer-director Mak manages to steer the potentially cloying story so far away from cliche and overt sentimentality is a testament to her unmistakably maturing skills as a storyteller.
Fagara is one of the best Hong Kong films in recent times, and I cannot wait to see what Mak does next.
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