The human need for connection and how we deal with loss are both examined among Chinese migrant communities in New York City. Constance Tsang’s feature debut Blue Sun Palace plays at the Edinburgh Film Festival 2024.
Constance Tsang’s debut feature is a slow-cinema treat. Set among New York City’s Chinese diaspora, it immerses itself in loneliness, loss, and the lives of low-paid Chinese migrants in Queens.
Four young friends and co-workers – Amy (Ke-Xi Wu), Didi (Haipeng Xu), Josie (Min Han Hsieh), and Fei (Lisha Zheng) – live and work together in a massage parlour. Life and work are not perfect, but they make the most of things, with Amy cheerfully using her excellent cooking skills to provide feasts for them at holiday time. They create their own family group away from home. A sudden loss, however, impacts them forcefully and brings Amy into closer contact with Cheung (Lee Kang-sheng) as she struggles with her grief.
Director Constance Tsang sets the slow pace early; the film’s joyful opening sequence (it’s a full 35 minutes into the narrative before the credits roll) features chicken and karaoke, long sequences of embarrassed singing and playful conversation, and New Year celebrations. We watch the happiness and the shared supportiveness on a daily basis, so that the tragedy, when it comes, is as unexpected for the viewer as for the characters.
Blue Sun Palace rarely strays beyond the area inhabited by the Chinese migrants of Queens and often has the camera hugging the faces of the characters as if they exist in their own world. But a phone call from abroad can so easily remind everyone that their roots (and a different life) are far away; the connections made in America are just a way of trying to feel like they belong somehow, someway, in this new community.
Tsang’s debut feature is an absolute gem of a film, with classy cinematography from Norm Li, beautiful performances from the entire cast, and a haunting, lonely final shot. Initially presenting food and karaoke as ways of having fun and a joyful experience, both gradually become a path to dealing with sadness. In fact, food plays such a major role in the film that I would recommend either eating before viewing or better, making a reservation for your favourite Chinese restaurant for afterwards!