Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

this is the reality of life, this movie prove to us or to anyone who's been working for a long time to those people that she doesn't even relatives, and how long that she gave her entire life for them, many of people like her, the actress and actor of this movie are very compatible, from the old woman who raise her not own son and to the man who grow with full of discipline and cannot leave the woman who raise him for a long time,i've barely touch how Andy lau and Deannie Yip act so good in this movie, if you have not seen this movie, you should have! watch now (y)

"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.

This is a simple film - two main characters with no blood relation and yet deeply connected to each other - and presumably made with a modest budget. It is slow, and arguably a tad long (but I am OK with it), but as the story evolves I begin to care about them.As a film it is a great antidote to the sex, violence, intriguing plots, and CGI (I must admit I like some of those too) that we are so used to on the big screen these days. Director Ann Hui indicated the story was inspired by true events and I believe her. What makes this story unique is we are looking at love, respect and a feeling of duty and obligation between two human beings as if they were mother and son - but they are not. Instead, what started out as a servant-master relationship transcended itself to become something more sublime when the care-giver became incapacitated and the table was turned. When this happened the roles were reversed and yet it happened in such an unforced, natural and leisurely fashion.There are tear-jerking moments, of course, but they came in such an unpretentious manner. The ending is as you would expect when age and illness took their toll on Tao Jie, played by Deannie Yip. And yet, I finished watching the film feeling uplifted, and with a strong sense of hope on humanity.

I seriously do not know why it took this movie so long to be in the cinemas. It is one of the defining works of the year and essentially a simple movie about simple and unexplored characters of Hong Kong people. Ms Ann Hui is truly at her very best once again. After winning awards for The Way We Were, Hui strikes the cord to the highest potential by casting Andy Lau and former box office queen of 80s Deanie Ip whose chemistry dates back to almost 23 years old in their last corroboration. It is truly a delight to sit through a movie like this and while this being one Hui's most accepted work to the general public; she never strays away from her principles and values. At its core, it is a film about human interactions, feelings, relationships and old age. One day, we will die and old age is a burning topic for the baby boomer's generation.Deanie Ip puts in a career defining performance and as she puts it, acting as an old lady is not difficult at all, as she is just playing herself. The manner she manages to make the audience enjoy her character the Chinese servant of Hong Kong family for 3 generations is impressive to say the least. Life is never easy and sometimes, we just tend to forget those people who work their life within behind the scene, with heart, soul and pure dedication. These are people who gave up on having a family of their own and instead spend their whole life raising other people's families. Nowadays, the loyalty and the servant and master relationships are a lot more different. As mentioned before, Ip's characters work so well because there is an underlying chemistry between Andy Lau and her. Lau puts in an underrated performance that doesn't allow him to overshadow the main character. It is a compliment that it is because of the understated manner Lau manages to approach his character that allows Deanie Ip's the spotlight and attention.A Simple Life has already won a lot of awards and not to mention plenty of admiration from a new league of fans young and old. Hui has been around a long time and has never strayed from the commercialism of Hong Kong cinema. To finally witness an Ann Hui film making splash at the box office is really as a good a feeling as watching a fine piece of cinema. In many ways this is a true and realistic look at simple aspects of life, characters and old age. It is this simplistic that makes Hui's films so different, enjoyable and ultimately touching. All in all, A Simple Life is a Hong Kong movie and more importantly a movie that takes us along the ride, respects those around us and allows the audience to reflect upon their own lives. Movies like these only comes along once in a generation and while this may not be Hui's best work, but in terms of balancing the needs of the Hong Kong people and her own vision, it is certainly the most accessible of her works. A fine piece of cinematic experience…Neo rates it 9/10www.thehkneo.com