The migrant experience from Hong Kong to Australia is delightfully and movingly explored in this truly wonderful Australian film from Asian film maker Clara Law. Others on this site will tell you the story, but my reaction to this carefully presented balanced personal experience is to be entertained in such an informative and visually hilarious and emotional way that I applaud Clara Law's perceptive and heartwarming expertise as a film maker. As an Anglo Australian I am aware of this visually exhilarating and challenging country from my perspective, having generations of my family born here, resulting in me and my brothers and sisters and pals. For elderly Asian migrants and excited teens to encounter the Technicolor landscape, the 1000watt sunshine, the cobalt blue sky, and the wildlife, both city and suburban, furry, flying and even human FLOATING LIFE deliciously and sensitively allows all their astonishment and alarm to take the most remote audience on a familiar but angled journey through displacement and adjustment. This is one of my favorite films from the 90s and it will be one of yours too when you are lucky enough to see it. In the 60s the same theme was hilariously explored for an Italian man entering Blokesworld-Sydney in the raucous farce THEY'RE A WEIRD MOB. However FLOATING LIFE is a sensitive banquet, not a broad comedy. Thankyou Clara!
7 Reviews
Do we know who we really are and where we belong?
Old Joe22 December 2001
Warning: Spoilers
Spoilers Warning: This piece was written for school!
The task of shifting house can be overwhelming. Moving to a new town or city can be scary. Have you ever considered what it would be like to immigrate to a new country, where you did not know anyone or spoke that countries language? You may have immigrated before, if you have not, the film Floating Life, gives a good insight into what it is like to immigrate and to go through the experience of dislocation.
The films focus is on the Chan family, Ma and Pa Chan with their two youngest sons, who are moving to Australia to avoid the communist take over of Hong Kong, and to be with their Second' daughter, Bing, who has lived and worked in Australia for three years.
The title, Floating Life, is very clever and is referring to the immigration experience. When a family lives in a certain place all their life they are said to have put down roots', but anyone who shifts from country to country loses all sense of who they are and where they belong, thus they are floating'. This is exactly what Floating life is trying to portray to the audience, that the displacement of the whole Chan family, leaves them unsure of who and where they are meant to be.
The use of the landscape in Floating Life, shows how the Chan's experience Australia. The contrast coming from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, to the blue skies, bright sun and suburban way of life in Australia, is effectively done. The scenes when the Chan's first arrive in Australia, are very comical, because it shows how the family is dumbfounded by their new surroundings, the wildlife and the freedom that they now have.
The film's focus is very much on immigration and how the Chan's try to assimilate to their new country, this is exemplified in the character of Bing. Her character on the surface seems very confident and successful, yet underneath she is very cynical and paranoid with life, causing much unrest for her family. The first days the Chan's live with Bing in Australia are tough. She tells her family the terrors of living in Australia: the cancerous sun, killer wasps, poisonous red-back spiders, pitbull terriers and that the burning of incense in a wooden house is not on.
Bing also points out that her two younger brothers are now to speak English, not Chinese, since they are living in an English speaking country. She almost acts like a mother to the boys, afraid that they will become louts'. This creates a wedge in the families relationship with Bing, to the extent, that they flee to a new home. They feel that Bing is trying to change their culture and for the worse.
Yet, many of the characters in this film are at a loss, because they are losing their identity. The Chan's oldest daughter, Yen, who is happily living in Germany, is at odds because she cannot work out whether she is Chinese or German. This is after her husband tells their daughter, that because she speaks Cantonese and not Mandarin, that her mother does not speak real' Chinese. This provokes Yen to ask, `Who am I?'. Ma and Pa Chan also feel that because they are in a new country that the tradition of burning incense is no longer worth it. Furthermore, Pa gives up his passion of Chinese tea, claiming `My heart's not in it'.
Bing seems on the surface to be the most adjusted to the way of life in Australia. However after her family leaves her, Bing falls into a great depression, realising how much she really has given up. This forces her family to go back to their roots, to help save their daughter. The most poignant scene in the film, is at the end, when the mother is burning incense, crying a prayer that her ancestral gods will once again bring back an important member of their family. Bing's illness helps the Chan's to recapture their culture, and what made them who they are.
This film is a great look at what a daunting experience immigration must be, and the effects of the Chinese diaspora. It allows us to go further than just be an observer, but to experience what the movies character's are feeling, which is confusion, isolation and alienation. Thus, Floating Life is the search for a place, to which an individual feels comfortable, in calling home'.
Rating: 4 Stars or 8/10
The task of shifting house can be overwhelming. Moving to a new town or city can be scary. Have you ever considered what it would be like to immigrate to a new country, where you did not know anyone or spoke that countries language? You may have immigrated before, if you have not, the film Floating Life, gives a good insight into what it is like to immigrate and to go through the experience of dislocation.
The films focus is on the Chan family, Ma and Pa Chan with their two youngest sons, who are moving to Australia to avoid the communist take over of Hong Kong, and to be with their Second' daughter, Bing, who has lived and worked in Australia for three years.
The title, Floating Life, is very clever and is referring to the immigration experience. When a family lives in a certain place all their life they are said to have put down roots', but anyone who shifts from country to country loses all sense of who they are and where they belong, thus they are floating'. This is exactly what Floating life is trying to portray to the audience, that the displacement of the whole Chan family, leaves them unsure of who and where they are meant to be.
The use of the landscape in Floating Life, shows how the Chan's experience Australia. The contrast coming from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, to the blue skies, bright sun and suburban way of life in Australia, is effectively done. The scenes when the Chan's first arrive in Australia, are very comical, because it shows how the family is dumbfounded by their new surroundings, the wildlife and the freedom that they now have.
The film's focus is very much on immigration and how the Chan's try to assimilate to their new country, this is exemplified in the character of Bing. Her character on the surface seems very confident and successful, yet underneath she is very cynical and paranoid with life, causing much unrest for her family. The first days the Chan's live with Bing in Australia are tough. She tells her family the terrors of living in Australia: the cancerous sun, killer wasps, poisonous red-back spiders, pitbull terriers and that the burning of incense in a wooden house is not on.
Bing also points out that her two younger brothers are now to speak English, not Chinese, since they are living in an English speaking country. She almost acts like a mother to the boys, afraid that they will become louts'. This creates a wedge in the families relationship with Bing, to the extent, that they flee to a new home. They feel that Bing is trying to change their culture and for the worse.
Yet, many of the characters in this film are at a loss, because they are losing their identity. The Chan's oldest daughter, Yen, who is happily living in Germany, is at odds because she cannot work out whether she is Chinese or German. This is after her husband tells their daughter, that because she speaks Cantonese and not Mandarin, that her mother does not speak real' Chinese. This provokes Yen to ask, `Who am I?'. Ma and Pa Chan also feel that because they are in a new country that the tradition of burning incense is no longer worth it. Furthermore, Pa gives up his passion of Chinese tea, claiming `My heart's not in it'.
Bing seems on the surface to be the most adjusted to the way of life in Australia. However after her family leaves her, Bing falls into a great depression, realising how much she really has given up. This forces her family to go back to their roots, to help save their daughter. The most poignant scene in the film, is at the end, when the mother is burning incense, crying a prayer that her ancestral gods will once again bring back an important member of their family. Bing's illness helps the Chan's to recapture their culture, and what made them who they are.
This film is a great look at what a daunting experience immigration must be, and the effects of the Chinese diaspora. It allows us to go further than just be an observer, but to experience what the movies character's are feeling, which is confusion, isolation and alienation. Thus, Floating Life is the search for a place, to which an individual feels comfortable, in calling home'.
Rating: 4 Stars or 8/10
Searching for a home.
DukeEman28 March 1999
Strong Family Drama
gcd7028 June 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Clara Law has given her strong family drama a good sense of humour (mostly in the first stanza) and a strong central theme. The search for a spiritual home - an area Law covered with less success in her "Temptation of a Monk" - is the focus of this soul-searching, poignant film about a migrant Chinese family trying to adjust to life in Australia.
The backbone of the film is the strong cast, led by the two elder and very different sisters, Yen (Annette Shun Wah) and Bing (Annie Yip). The two give performances that are poles apart, yet both equally worthy of praise. Lending support is Anthony Wong as brother Kar Ming, impressive as the man who is totally lost even though he lives the fast life in Hong Kong. Cecilia Fong Sing Lee and Edwin Pang also give rewarding turns as the long suffering parents who yearn for peace in Australia and an end to their trials.
The screenplay from Law and Eddie L. C. Fong is occasional, delivering some knockout scenes - including one powerful anti-abortion message that is not for the liberals - along with some less than impactful ones. Not to criticise though, for their writing sures up what is a fine film. Great cinematography is from Dion Beebe and the editor is Suresh Ayyar.
Monday, September 15, 1997 - Hoyts Croydon
The backbone of the film is the strong cast, led by the two elder and very different sisters, Yen (Annette Shun Wah) and Bing (Annie Yip). The two give performances that are poles apart, yet both equally worthy of praise. Lending support is Anthony Wong as brother Kar Ming, impressive as the man who is totally lost even though he lives the fast life in Hong Kong. Cecilia Fong Sing Lee and Edwin Pang also give rewarding turns as the long suffering parents who yearn for peace in Australia and an end to their trials.
The screenplay from Law and Eddie L. C. Fong is occasional, delivering some knockout scenes - including one powerful anti-abortion message that is not for the liberals - along with some less than impactful ones. Not to criticise though, for their writing sures up what is a fine film. Great cinematography is from Dion Beebe and the editor is Suresh Ayyar.
Monday, September 15, 1997 - Hoyts Croydon
Migration is hard
PeterM271 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is a marvellous little film about the experience of migration, and the difficulties in adjusting to a totally different culture and language.
Four members of the Chan family (the aging parents and the two youngest sons) in Hong Kong decide to follow Bing Chan, the second eldest daughter to Australia to find security before Hong Kong reverts to China in 1997.
But Bing has bought a house in a sterile new housing development on the edge of the Sydney, with plenty of space but none of the social buzz that the family was used to in Hong Kong. Though they try to maintain their Chinese traditions, the new country does not feel right to the parents, and tensions rise as Bing tries to force them to adjust. Meanwhile, the eldest sister Yen is living in Germany with a German husband and a child, and the eldest son has stayed behind in Hong Kong with a busy sexual life.
The film's mood switches from comic to poignant to hopeful to resigned, as the parents try to keep the family together. It's a revealing look at the complexity of migration and the millions of such stories being played out in Australia today that Australian-born residents have little inkling of.
Four members of the Chan family (the aging parents and the two youngest sons) in Hong Kong decide to follow Bing Chan, the second eldest daughter to Australia to find security before Hong Kong reverts to China in 1997.
But Bing has bought a house in a sterile new housing development on the edge of the Sydney, with plenty of space but none of the social buzz that the family was used to in Hong Kong. Though they try to maintain their Chinese traditions, the new country does not feel right to the parents, and tensions rise as Bing tries to force them to adjust. Meanwhile, the eldest sister Yen is living in Germany with a German husband and a child, and the eldest son has stayed behind in Hong Kong with a busy sexual life.
The film's mood switches from comic to poignant to hopeful to resigned, as the parents try to keep the family together. It's a revealing look at the complexity of migration and the millions of such stories being played out in Australia today that Australian-born residents have little inkling of.
"Purely Breath Taking"
ilovemat14 August 2006
The stunning young and beautiful Claudette truly portrayed her role to the best of her ability, shes a star in the making, the first and hope not last of her remarkable work. Definitely "The Next Best Thing" - truly spectacular. this movie is an accurate and deep look into the hardships faced of Asian migration, something we can all learn from in days of such problems,. hopefully generations to come will be able to witness such a display of story telling and i hope i am not the only one that gained as much social and cultural awareness that was portrayed in the film. well done to the director Clara Law and the rest of the cast and crew, again all the best.
Life Floating Beautifully
biki3 June 2001
Clara Law's strengths are her provocative mise en scene and her playful seriousness. She also has a tendency to make structural leaps which, by forcing you to think through the story, ironically remove you from the story. This is a weakness, which fades upon repeat viewings of her work.
Floating Life is no different in this regard.
A traditional HK 'migration narrative', Floating Life tells the simplistic story of a family migrating from HK to Sydney. It is structured around a series of tableaux focusing on different family members.
However, Floating Life is a different film for law. It is her most personal.
It oozes emotional truth. Undoubtedly Law drew upon her own migration experience as well as that of her family [which migrated to Australia before she did]. It also draws heavily on pre-hand-over fears for its humanity. Even her typical whimsical humour creates a humanity for her characters.
And in the end, that is Floating LIfe's strength, the story of its characters. It is very moving.
For once (at least in her late period), Law's cinematic mastery has been subdued, or at least equalled by the emotional.
Worth hunting down.
Floating Life is no different in this regard.
A traditional HK 'migration narrative', Floating Life tells the simplistic story of a family migrating from HK to Sydney. It is structured around a series of tableaux focusing on different family members.
However, Floating Life is a different film for law. It is her most personal.
It oozes emotional truth. Undoubtedly Law drew upon her own migration experience as well as that of her family [which migrated to Australia before she did]. It also draws heavily on pre-hand-over fears for its humanity. Even her typical whimsical humour creates a humanity for her characters.
And in the end, that is Floating LIfe's strength, the story of its characters. It is very moving.
For once (at least in her late period), Law's cinematic mastery has been subdued, or at least equalled by the emotional.
Worth hunting down.
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