logo
The Way We Talk review – sensitive drama explores deafness via three friends' infectious warmth

The Way We Talk review – sensitive drama explores deafness via three friends' infectious warmth

The Guardian7 hours ago

An incisive film-maker with a keen eye for contemporary youth culture, Hong Kong director Adam Wong has returned with another sensitive ensemble drama. The film follows three twentysomething friends as they navigate various degrees of deafness. Alan, played by first-time deaf actor Marco Ng, is a cochlear implant (CI) user. He is also an ambassador for the surgery, which can help restore sound perception for those with hearing loss. Wolf (Neo Yau), his childhood friend, is a staunch user and supporter of sign language, which at one point was prohibited in local deaf schools; such institutions prioritised speech training, then believed to work better for hearing-impaired students. Sophie (Chung Suet Ying) is at a crossroads: she is a CI user who cannot sign, but yearns to learn.
It would, of course, be simplistic to portray these different forms of communication as inherently at odds with one another; instead, Wong's film emphasises that, whether it is CI surgery or sign language, deaf people must be granted the autonomy to make these decisions on their own. Besides posing these thought-provoking questions, Wong also constructs rich inner worlds for these characters, in which deafness is only one thread of a whole tapestry. Wolf's passion for the sea, for instance, is felt in the smallest of details, such as the ocean-themed trinkets that line his study desk. It's the kind of visual attention that renders his dismissal from a diving school due to a lack of sign language interpreters even more heartbreaking.
Like many films dealing with social issues, The Way We Talk is not without its moments of didacticism, but the easy chemistry between the three leads lends the film a natural, infectious warmth that engagingly foregrounds its message of community.
The Way We Talk is in UK cinemas from 13 June.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The Prosecutor review – Donnie Yen leads mashup of legal drama and action flick
The Prosecutor review – Donnie Yen leads mashup of legal drama and action flick

The Guardian

time5 hours ago

  • The Guardian

The Prosecutor review – Donnie Yen leads mashup of legal drama and action flick

Developed by China's Supreme People's Procuratorate and directed by butt-kicking luminary Donnie Yen, The Prosecutor is a bizarre mashup of courtroom procedural and action flick; it is just as keen on lionising due process and the 'shining light' of Chinese justice as it is on reducing civic infrastructure to smithereens in several standout bouts. But Yen, who looks undeniably good in a suit, is more convincing on his habitual fisticuff grounds than the jurisprudential ones. Yen plays Fok, a one-time hotshot cop who – leaving the force after some over-zealous policing – decides to man the 'final gate' of justice and become a public prosecutor. Like a low-carb Perry Mason with years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu behind him, trouble keeps knocking on his door. Suspecting that a young drug smuggler (Mason Yung) whose case he is assigned has pled guilty to get his higher-ups off the hook, Fok starts looking into his slippery lawyer, Au Pak Man (Julian Cheung). Insisting his character's knees are shot and he can't do this for ever, The Prosecutor lays the ground for a post-martial arts career for Yen. Not that you'd know it from undimmed reserves of inventiveness here: a hyper-dynamic initial police raid, with Yen toting a submachine gun and riot shield, flits between drone-borne third-person and first-person cop's eye mayhem. But this brio is dragged down by the convoluted and muddily dramatised legal sequences. Trying to establish Fok's counter-intuitive prosecuting style, it is confusing in the detail and manipulative in the summary arguments there to set up Au's cartoon villainy. Maybe a more grounded director, such as Johnnie To, could have made an eyebrow-raising conceit like a vigilante prosecutor work. Though Yen raises fleetingly interesting points about the pliability of the justice system, he can't bend enough to reconcile the film's legal and brawling sides in a way that avoids glaring irregularities; surely, for example, Fok's extracurricular tangling with the drug gang would have seen him immediately struck off? Yen's self-confidence as a performer may make the courtroom grandstanding appear self-righteous, but that is no bad quality out on the warpath. He even sells saying 'I object!' mid-melee in the finale as he and a knuckle-dusting thug pound a metro carriage like a steel drum. The Prosecutor is available on digital platforms on 16 June.

Roxy Jacenko shows off her weight loss in skimpy bikini and racy lingerie after praising supplement she calls 'natural Ozempic'
Roxy Jacenko shows off her weight loss in skimpy bikini and racy lingerie after praising supplement she calls 'natural Ozempic'

Daily Mail​

time7 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Roxy Jacenko shows off her weight loss in skimpy bikini and racy lingerie after praising supplement she calls 'natural Ozempic'

Roxy Jacenko is clearly enjoying the result of her recent weight loss. The PR queen, 44, shared some racy images to her Instagram Stories this week showcasing her incredible new figure. In one photo, she posed for a mirror selfie while posing in lacy red lingerie, her taut abs on show. Roxy also shared a close up image in which she flaunted her white bra, as well as wearing a skintight workout ensemble. As she holidays in Bali, Roxy also showed off her bikini body as she lay by the pool in a colourful bikini. Roxy has admitted to trying Ozempic in the past to lose weight but suffered a terrifying overdose. But now she swears by a new supplement which she has called a 'natural Ozempic'. She recently gave an insight into her daily ritual and 18kg weight loss. According to the website, Eimele provides 'plant-powered solutions' for a variety of concerns, including weight management. The brand's Calibrate Reds Max is said to help 'limit sugar and carb absorption' while simultaneously 'reducing fat storage'. The powder sachets are designed to be taken dissolved in water at the start or during the biggest meal of the day. Roxy previously revealed the extreme measures she goes to in order to maintain her goal weight of just 50.9kg. She told Daily Mail Australia she is doing daily contrast therapy, which involves taking baths in warm and cold water from Monday to Friday. This method is believed to help to improve blood circulation throughout your body. She also does 40 minutes in an infra-red sauna each day before completing a 45-minute workout on the treadmill at speed 6 and rolling hills, as well as low-weight exercises. 'I don't do breakfast or lunch, instead I do dinner at 7pm each day which is focused on protein only and salad,' she explained. Roxy also revealed she eats just one meal a day at dinner which is focused on protein only. 'Last night I had grilled calamari, rocket, pear and Parmesan salad. If I'm desperate for something sweet, I have dark chocolate-covered sultanas.' Roxy also recently spoke about the terrifying moment she overdosed on Ozempic in an effort to lose weight. She revealed she'd taken four times the recommended dosage before she suffered from severe vomiting and non-stop shaking. 'I put so much weight on. I would have to undo my jeans when I sat in the car so I got sucked in by it,' she explained on The Lazy CEO Podcast with Jane Lu. 'I bought it, I tried it. I took four times the amount in the first go.' Roxy continued by saying she's 'so sick of people' who deny using Ozempic, adding: 'I call a spade a spade on my platform and I don't care.' She also previously said she thought she was going to 'die' after taking one milligram of the diabetic treatment, which was four times the amount prescribed to her by a doctor. 'I thought I was actually going to die. I have had cancer, radiation therapy, all of that. It doesn't even compare to how bad I felt when I took this drug,' she told The Saturday Telegraph. 'For the first 12 hours I was OK. I vomited four times that morning, once in a hire car, and I went to work.' Roxy revealed she then suffered from severe vomiting and non-stop 'epilepsy type' shaking which landed her in a drug overdose clinic for three days.

The Way We Talk review – sensitive drama explores deafness via three friends' infectious warmth
The Way We Talk review – sensitive drama explores deafness via three friends' infectious warmth

The Guardian

time7 hours ago

  • The Guardian

The Way We Talk review – sensitive drama explores deafness via three friends' infectious warmth

An incisive film-maker with a keen eye for contemporary youth culture, Hong Kong director Adam Wong has returned with another sensitive ensemble drama. The film follows three twentysomething friends as they navigate various degrees of deafness. Alan, played by first-time deaf actor Marco Ng, is a cochlear implant (CI) user. He is also an ambassador for the surgery, which can help restore sound perception for those with hearing loss. Wolf (Neo Yau), his childhood friend, is a staunch user and supporter of sign language, which at one point was prohibited in local deaf schools; such institutions prioritised speech training, then believed to work better for hearing-impaired students. Sophie (Chung Suet Ying) is at a crossroads: she is a CI user who cannot sign, but yearns to learn. It would, of course, be simplistic to portray these different forms of communication as inherently at odds with one another; instead, Wong's film emphasises that, whether it is CI surgery or sign language, deaf people must be granted the autonomy to make these decisions on their own. Besides posing these thought-provoking questions, Wong also constructs rich inner worlds for these characters, in which deafness is only one thread of a whole tapestry. Wolf's passion for the sea, for instance, is felt in the smallest of details, such as the ocean-themed trinkets that line his study desk. It's the kind of visual attention that renders his dismissal from a diving school due to a lack of sign language interpreters even more heartbreaking. Like many films dealing with social issues, The Way We Talk is not without its moments of didacticism, but the easy chemistry between the three leads lends the film a natural, infectious warmth that engagingly foregrounds its message of community. The Way We Talk is in UK cinemas from 13 June.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store