Twilight of life This sad and - like almost all Asian cinema - meditative melodrama, although not a mandatory film, can be interesting not only in the context of queer cinema.
The first thing that sets it apart from other gay dramas is the age of the main characters. Pak is 70, Hoy is 65, and they may be in love for the first time in their lives. At the same time, both men are respectable family men with wives, children and grandchildren. Park also has a job as a taxi driver, and Hoy has a Catholic faith, and both try to sublimate the void in the soul. With varying success, they succeed until one day in the park they bump into each other. Park is looking for physical intimacy, Hoy is more of a spiritual intimacy, but they, like teenagers, are inevitably drawn to each other.
The director, paired with the operator, tell the story intimately, in a whisper, and even the bed scenes, which should seem as awkward in this setting, are full of dignity and wormwood bitterness. A separate character here is Hong Kong - the same dusty and tired relic of the era as the main characters. In parallel with the personal story of the main characters, a social drama unfolds before the viewer: the local queer community is trying to get the state to open a nursing home for elderly homosexuals. Social overtones have recently been an integral part of Asian cinema, but in this film, the line with public hearings acts more as an optional metonymy of the drama of the main characters than an important political statement.
“Uncle”, with its precisely rhymed episodes, lyrical intonation and pauses-multipoints, resembles primarily a sad poem written on a scrap of napkin in a dirty smoked cafe. The director, by and large, does not invent anything new, his film will not make the viewer cry sobbing or, conversely, rush to the barricades. However, his sincerity, multiplied by the crude simplicity of the entourage, make the film a truly honest statement not only about homosexuality, but also about the nature of feelings in general.
Conclusion: At first glance, “Uncle” is quite a typical gay drama, shot in a somewhat atypical setting of 60+. However, on closer examination, a film that speaks with genuine sincerity about universal human problems - such as the conflict of duty and feelings, longing for the past that did not happen, accepting one's own old age - becomes a universal call to live and feel now.