As the proverb says, home is where the heart is. And in Stanley Tam’s Breeze of July, the heart of the recently deceased mother of 29-year-old Lan-Xin remained in her native Shanghai, although she had moved to the Fragrant Harbour decades before her death. So is that why it is in Shanghai, the city sometimes known as the Paris of the East, that Tam’s film truly comes alive – and this even though the debutant director, scriptwriter and co-producer does not himself hail from the city?

Shot on a limited budget over a period of just five days each in Shanghai and Hong Kong, Breeze of July is a drama with distinct art-house sensibilities or, at the very least, pacing. As languid as a hot and humid July day, it manages to compress its story by letting its characters rather than the camera and action describe early events. But only after Lan-Xin, a Hong Konger who has spent time in Toronto and Vancouver as well as on both sides of Victoria Harbour, is shown moving back into her old family home in To Kwa Wan and meeting up with a childhood friend affectionately referred to ‘Big Head’ (Sammy Leung) was I drawn into her life and story.

Even in To Kwa Wan though, it seems all roads lead to Shanghai. Widowed for years prior to her death, Lan-Xin’s mother had been living for some time with an old Shanghai friend known as Auntie Lan (Koo Kam Wah). And while the mother, whose Cantonese husband had not been partial to Shanghainese, had never spoken her native tongue to her daughter, Big Head – who lived in the apartment above the two old ladies and had spent much time with them – tells Lan-Xin her mother had taken to speaking Shanghainese and leading her old Shanghainese way of life deep in the heart of Kowloon.

Auntie Lan also shares her regret that she and Lan-Xin’s mother had never returned to Shanghai even for a visit once they had left their home city all those years ago. And so Lan-Xin herself realises, “It turns out I’ve never been anywhere with mum.” Worse, the more stories she hears of her mother, the more she wonders how much she had really known her at all.

Having already encountered more than her share of disappointments in her young life, Lan-Xin had sought to flee from her latest troubles by returning to To Kwa Wan. Tracked down there, she bids for a further, though temporary, escape via a trip to to her mother’s hometown with the unsuspecting Auntie Lan.
Although she goes to Shanghai under somewhat false pretences, with the help of Auntie Lan and some old friends, Lan-Xin’s time there turns out to be not only pleasant but also meaningful. In finding out about her mother’s past, she discovers more about herself and before Breeze of July – which starts off so slowly but ends strongly – draws to its close, Lan-Xin has come to know where her own heart, not just her mother’s, really does lie.

Yvonne Teh