Edinburgh Film Festival Review: Lam Sum’s ‘The Narrow Road’

A cleaner and his young neighbor form an unusual bond in The Narrow Road, a Hong Kong-set drama world premiering at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Director Lam Sum paints a vivid picture of life for low-paid workers in the city, skillfully incorporating elements of the Covid pandemic, which struck before filming began. 

Louis Cheung plays Chak, a hard worker who runs a modest but efficient cleaning company serving local businesses and homes. His neighbor Candy (Angela Yuen) is struggling to provide for her seven-year-old daughter, and begs Chak for a job.

While hardly a natural at cleaning — which is teased for gentle comedy value — Candy assists Chak just enough to keep the gig, though it helps that she has an incredibly cute daughter (if there is such a thing as a Manic Pixie Dream Kid, this is it). The three gradually develop a friendship that verges on codependency, but Candy’s moral compass is a frequent challenge for Chak, even if it’s borne out of desperation. 

As her name suggests, Candy is a colorful character who sports an eye-catching array of probably shoplifted clothing. She’s impulsive, funny, and more like her kid’s irresponsible best friend than her mother: the child smears her face in stolen lipstick while left home alone.

Candy is well enough drawn not to fall into the Manic Pixie trap, and she’s not particularly sexualized, either, though there’s a sense that she and Chak are teetering on the edge of a potential romance. The will-they-won’t-they question feels a little dragged out during the final sequences, but it’s an engaging set up, made more dramatic by a subplot involving a shortage of detergent during the crisis.

Poignant pandemic images underline the difficulties of these characters, and that of Chak’s mother, who is isolating in her small flat, hanging flimsy disposable masks up to dry in her kitchen. While there’s a lightness to most of these scenes, there’s one with no room for levity that leaves an indelible impact. This helps to make The Narrow Road a thought-provoking insight into Hong Kong lockdown life, with terrific performances and a tangible atmosphere.

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