Film review: Sara - Charlene Choi plays against type
Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin portrays a victim of child sexual abuse who, with the help of an older lover, gains an education and a career in which she tries to help victims of sexual exploitation.
Starring: Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin, Simon Yam Tatwah, Sunadcha Tadrabiab
Director: Herman Yau Lai-to
Category: III (Cantonese and English)
It's been fartoo long since we've seen Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin act her age. Having risen to fame as one part of the duo Twins, it seemed like the 32-year-old entertainment personality would remain forever juvenile on film. But in this drama, which puts her alongside people with several Category III movies under their belts, Choi portrays the titular character as a girl and an adult.
Sexually abused as a child by her stepfather (Tony Ho Wah-chiu), Sara (Choi) runs away from home and spends her nights in various locales, including country parks and fast food joints that stay open 24 hours.
While hanging around the Tsim Sha Tsui East promenade late one evening, she meets the gentlemanly, middle-aged Kam Ho-yin (Simon Yam Tat-wah). The two embark on a complex relationship that involves him getting her into a good school, and they become lovers.
Rather than depict what goes on between Sara and Ho-yin in an overly simplistic, sensationalistic manner, director Yau and scriptwriter Erica Li Man consider the possibility that the unlikely duo could actually come to care deeply for each other. Still, there's no arguing that there are troubling aspects to Sara and Ho-yin's unconventional affair — and it's to the filmmakers' credit that they do try to address them in the movie.
