Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Paul Magne Haakonsen "A Simple Life" ("Tou Ze") is not your average Hong Kong movie, as it is neither an adrenaline-packed action movie or an over the top silly romantic comedy. "A Simple Life" is a beautiful movie about real life, love and humanity.The story is about again domestic housekeeper Ah Tao (played by Deannie Yip) who has been taking care of the same family for 60 years, and as Roger (played by Andy Lau) returns from USA, roles become switched as Ah Tao suffers a stroke and has to move into a nursing home. What was once a master and servant relationship becomes a relationship of friendship, compassion, companionship and genuine love and sense of family bond despite having no blood ties."A Simple Life" is filmed in a style very much similar to a documentary, and that is part of the charm, because it is really like you, as the audience, is right there alongside the actors and actresses.But what really makes this movie unique is the spectacular performances of all people in the movie, especially that of Deannie Yip and Andy Lau. Together they really carry the movie so nicely.This movie is a gem in the Hong Kong cinema, and should be on the shelf of any collector or fan of Hong Kong cinema. I am glad that I purchased the movie from Amazon, given my interest in Hong Kong cinema, and I was more than genuinely surprised by the authenticity and heart-warning compassion that is shown in this movie."A Simple Life" is well worth a watch, especially if you enjoy movies that are realistic and will have an impact on the audience.

aldri-feb Ah Tao, an old maid in Hong Kong who have served Roger's family for four generations suffering stroke that make her deciding to retire and move into old people's place. She recover her stroke there, learns many thing and also is treated well. Every once a week, her master Roger visits her and accompanies her to take a walk. Sometimes, Roger's mom also comes to visit Ah Tao and bring her many useful things. Roger's family really love Ah Tao and feel thankful after what she has done for them about 60 years long by taking care of their family. 'A Simple Life' have shown that a simple story could give good impression and enjoyable to watch. The storyline is not complicated at all, the movie goes on slowly and very detail. Ann Hui as a director tries to make it safe and straight without any meaningful conflicts which sometimes could make audience feels bored watching it. The relationship between Roger and Ah Tao built really well, it shows how they support and take care one another even sometimes telling jokes. Credits should be given to Andy Lau and Deannie Yip, their acting is so natural as two characters who has known each other for a long time. Overall, 'A Simple Life' is a memorable Chinese movie I've seen recently. Actually I felt exhausted during watching 'A Simple Life' because of it's slow plot but when I rewind what I just saw, the movie isn't bad at all and has so much lesson to be learned from it. It teaches audience to respect and appreciate people who has done good things in lives and not forgetting their merit.

Itoc I saw this film during the film festival in Norway; it's been a long, long time since I watched a movie which captivated me even after the credit started to roll.It's a movie which primarily focus on every little moment of an elderly woman, but it is never a dull moment as the first impression might seem. It's a movie which really drives you to care for the characters in a natural way as opposed to many films where they "force" you with "natural" gimmicks. No, this movie broke most typical western styles, but at the same time made it entertaining and thrilling. It's a movie where there're no explosions, no foresight drama or no extreme twists... it's truly, a simple life, which showed me how simple it can be to be humble, and care for those we love.

Harry T. Yung Those who have watched "The way we are" (2008) will know exactly what to expect from today's Ann Hui – films that are delightfully free of sappy melodrama. In that film we share the ordinary, everyday life of several sibling-linked families, some more affluent but not really rich, others less fortunate but not quite on poverty line. There is no manipulation of the audience's emotions, but towards the end, there is one scene in which the affluent uncle (played beautifully by KO Chi-shum), hitherto quite typically no-nonsense business-like (although there is no sign of his looking down on poor relatives), matter-of-factly said to his bright sister-son something to the effect of "Don't worry if your exam results are not good enough to get you into university here. We (he and another uncle) will finance your university education abroad. That's the least we can do to reciprocate how your mother looked after us when we were small". The very casual way he said this is enough to bring a lump to your throat."A simple life" rings true in the same way – genuine emotion does not need melodramatic manipulation.As the last of a trilogy loosely, thematically linked ("my model of experimentation", said director Ann Hui) with the aforementioned and "The post-modern life of my aunt" (2006), "A simple life" is based on producer Roger Lee's true story with domestic maid Tao who had been part of his life from day one, and became a default mother when his entire family emigrated to the US. In the film, Deannie Yip and Andy Lau are pitch-perfect as Tao and Roger, drawing from their numerous previous screen corroborations as mother and son. In an interview with Time Out, Hong Kong, director Ann Hui also intimated that on the process of aging, she has deep personal experience with her own mother. In the film, Roger took Tao to a premiere of a film he produced, but Hui said she had second thoughts about doing the same with her mother, fearing that the reaction might be "Are you giving me hints? (about putting her in an old folks' home)" Starting with Tao going to an old folks' home and ending at her natural death at old age, the simple story is simply told, with surprisingly gentle humour. Through inevitable vicissitudes, human goodness and compassion surface. There are some eccentric characters and flawed human nature to various degrees, but no real villains. As in "The way we are" the warmth that brims over always brings a lump to your throat, such as Tao at the old folks' home receiving a call from Roger and friends at a card game, thinking of her – middle-aged men that she had know since they were little kids."A simple life" is a film that is true to life. An added bonus to local viewers is a delightful proliferation of cameos from household names in the Hong Kong cinematic scene.