Borrowed Time

Ting is on the brink of marriage, but still wounded by her father’s departure twenty years earlier. Setting out in search of him and for a sense of resolution, she travels from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, moving through late-night fruit markets and piers soaked in blue light, as an impending summer typhoon grows near. Meeting a childhood friend and reconnecting over a bootleg CD, Ting delves into her family’s secrets and the emotional turmoil still sharply rooted in her life. An exquisitely rendered first feature from filmmaker Choy Ji, executive produced by renowned director Stanley Kwan, this delicate drama uniquely regards Hong Kong from the point of view of China’s mainland, remarking on the region’s deeply influential but intrinsically separated status – a compelling distinction that allowed for dual lives and the maturation of secrets. Featuring mesmerising cinematography – a sensitivity to light, shadow and warmth akin to impressionist painting – and imbued with evocative sensorial moments – the texture of peeled fresh lychees, the monumental sounds of typhoon rain – Borrowed Time asks what it means to have another life apart from your own, to suspend time and slip into a second skin. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)