
Constance Tsang’s debut feature film titled Blue Sun Palace centers on the narratives surrounding the life of the Chinese Migrant workers situated in the borough of Queens, in the aftermath of a disturbing event at a massage parlor. Concerning the themes of solitude and neglect within the film, Tsang manages to integrate them in an equally cool yet subtle fashion. In the case of the film’s stillness, there is a measured and gentle slowness in how it is executed. The impact of a scene hits first and the purpose of that impact is revealed only later when one begins to search for that particular shot.
This masterpiece concentrates on a striking and dynamic environment that can also feel large and fully occasioned in the background. At most times the viewer indeed maintains a considerable distance except at the opening where there is a handheld camera featuring Didi (Haipeng Xu) and Cheung (Kang-sheng Lee) and they seem to be in a close up conversation. Nonetheless, Tsang ensures that the viewer’s curiosity is piqued by the extreme ends of the corners in the massage parlor curtains in the halls. Very notable is the mode of mise en scene used by Tsang while refining each of the shots for the visual background elements, gentle light scattering, soft focus of the edges to a dusting of yellow, pink, and purple colors everywhere. Scabious dresses cover the stair railings and the door and wall images get attention due to beautifully embellished graphics. As soon as the characters take a place which a restaurant either sitting on dining fiddles at the table, the divide the camera perspective while trying to include the kitchen in the picture, to compress the frame boundaries and to make the viewers mindful of the subplots in the story.
This is also why the characters that Tsang has devised, who are based in a certain region, do not seek out these spaces instead they turn around and love these spaces, such as the ones that you stand in while waiting in a queue. Such locations are important to them since they symbolize the Chinese culture in Queens and these are the locations that Tsang so vividly portrays.
The raw emotions we feel while watching this film make one of its clearest transitions from normalcy to tragedy. This feeling is sometimes sullied by grief, Tsang makes transitions in pitch that are so unnerving. Wu Ke-Xi makes anguish of Amy quite prominent in the film where she plays a masseur who performs in multiple sad roles. Tsang. As an addendum, though, Tsang sidesteps a cliche immigrant trauma saga which is invariable in Western films and imbues the character of Amy with the tragic Ali qualities which he does so seamlessly, portraying the tragedy along with hope. It is an ending with sadness but one which is industrially cardinal not to compromise the hope of at least an optional conclusion because the viewer is made to feel rather than look at the characters introverted in the film. But, as the end credits began to roll, I found myself reaching out to Cheung and Amy in the cruel yet gentle warmth of Tang’s mind.
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