A full house with its audiences in stitches from time to time, ‘Chilli Laugh’ absolutely is a comedy. But the truth is, it is more than a comedy, it is a comedy with tears and love and years, a film that every Hong Kong people is eager to watch because it tells the hard story of every Hong Kong people who has painstakingly struggled to survive under the pandemic in the past two to three years. The film also brutally portrays the stubborn mentality of Hong Kong people who have been working insanely hard in this small land for the past two or three decades to pursue their dreams of buying a house as their home but turning out to be a heavy weight of the burdens of their families.

A Hong Kong feature film that is both realistic and warm hit the big screen recently despite its original showing schedule in the last Chinese New Year. It can mean we have waited for a long time to watch it with thirst. The crux of the film is to tell us no matter what happens, a family must face it and experience it together, and life will be full, loving, and meaningful. The family of three in the movie cannot be called filial piety to the father and son, and the husband and wife do not belong to the type of respect for each other as an honored guest. Because of this, they have their unique preciousness to own. It is everyone in the family can be themselves and say what they want to say. Amidst this, there are quarrels, compromises, and understandings since there is no distinction between them. Moreover, the head of the family, played by Cheng Zhongji, grasps a pretty good sense of humor, and he used to play it at home to settle family disputes or troubles. The character Cheng plays has won us not a little applause for we have a feeling that he seems to know what we want.

A man’s sense of humor at home is very important. It hugely overrides the so-called self-esteem men used to claim they must have. In fact, family members do not need to defend their self-esteem or there is no reason and meaning for being a family. When they need to let go of their self-esteem, they can employ their sense of humor to help it. We all own sense of humor if only we can forget ourselves for a moment. The truth is if you can let go of your self-esteem, you will live with your family truly and happily; if you can let go of your self-esteem, you will get to know the real feelings and needs of your family, and vice versa. Having love is the real home and loving one another in a family is the real esteem for every family member there. This is my sentiment grasped after watching the movie.