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Rose (Joan Chen), Joe (Qi Yuwu) and the two children go to a Chinese martial arts movie, where Joe and May (Irene Chen) throw popcorn at each other. Rose is angry afterwards and accuses May of dressing ‘like a slut’. Back at home, Joe and Rose argue and he storms out. Rose then turns on her daughter, as Tom (Joel Lok) watches.
Curator’s notes
This is the first time we have really seen how bad Rose’s temper can be – and it’s pretty scary. May has been a child until now, and although Tony Ayres gives us an indication that Joe is falling for her, there is no evidence of any physical contact. The sequence is partly crafted around the boy’s wordless observation of every detail. Joel Lok’s performance is remarkably good at suggesting that he understands a great deal, but not everything, that’s going on around him. That small gap between what he saw and what he understood is what the movie is all about, in one sense. It’s the puzzle the older Tom, as an adult writer, can’t stop trying to solve in his mind.
