Poor Folk

Midi Z is one of the most promising talents in Asian cinema. A year ago, he presented Return to Burma, a tragicomic film about a poverty-stricken country where everything revolves around money.

Poor Folk embroiders forth on this theme. The sister of protagonist A-Hong falls into the hands of human traffickers. He travels to Bangkok and starts life as a hustler. With other illegal Burmese, he rips off Chinese tourists and sells raw materials for amphetamines to heavily-armed gangsters. Once he earns enough money to buy his sister free, the trail leading to the traffickers has gone cold. Then he comes into contact with San Mei, a prostitute who mediates for the crooks in exchange for a promised residence permit.

Poor Folk has all the ingredients for a crime film, but is primarily about uprooting and alienation. In the lengthy wide-angle shots, sadness and unexpected humour always simmer under the surface.

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