Ripples in the Mist

With an independent spirit, Clara Law’s new film is an essayistic observation of grief, friendship and artistic regeneration, through the parallel stories of two Hong Kong women in exile. A melange of cinematic styles – including documentary, stage performance and opera – permeates both form and content in this impressively understated drama.

A tale of two women, two countries of new beginnings, and the city they left behind. Wai is a performer who left Hong Kong suddenly and is traversing Taiwan, meeting friends from her past and finding inspiration in her new surroundings. Ling has come to Australia to retrace the steps of her close friend, who died in an accident while on a tourist visa, in order to bring her back home.

The latest film from Macau-born filmmaker Clara Law (Drifting Petals, IFFR 2022; Floating Life, IFFR 1997) is a beautiful culmination of the themes that have marked her body of work across several decades in Hong Kong and her adopted country of Australia. With long-time collaborator Eddie Fong, whose graceful camerawork captures and contrasts the verdant beauty of Taiwan and the rugged landscapes of Australia, she explores grief and disappointment, but also friendship and the regenerating power of creativity, landing ultimately in a place of hope. The film unites a distinctly poetic Chinese aesthetic with the humanist heart of an exiled artist.
 
– Michelle Carey

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