Bends

Cars, urban alienation and anonymous motorways: so far, so ‘Crash’ (the Cronenberg one). But there’s also a gentle air of melancholy about Flora Lau’s feature film debut ‘Bends’, which premiered at the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes this year. Affluent housewife Anna strikes up an unusual friendship with her chauffeur, Fai. Anna’s husband seems to have disappeared after a failed financial deal, and Fai is struggling to get his pregnant wife and young daughter past immigration controls into Hong Kong. The two drive around silently, protected by the sheltered confines of the car. Judging from the drab rooms, gloomy dinners for one and greyish tint of the trailer, don’t expect a ‘buddies on the road’ caper.