Pak (Tai Bo) is a taxi driver entering his twilight years yet still providing for his family. A long-closeted gay man, he spends his lunch breaks cruising in parks and public bathrooms. When he meets retiree Hoi (Ben Yuen) on one of these sojourns, what he intends to be a brief frisson unexpectedly blooms into a validating latter-years romance.

Both men started families to cover themselves in a Hong Kong whose social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community continues to lag behind its gradual legislative progress. Director Ray Yeung enters their lives from a place of affection, colouring in the edges of their double existences with charming vignettes depicting the camaraderie of the city’s underground gay community, as well as the full force of feeling and genuine love with which both men meet their families.

Its intuitive, measured lead performances give Suk Suk a sturdy centre as the plot refrains from simplistic resolutions, and the finer details of the characters that surround Pak and Hoi make for a rich and tender tapestry.

Sparse, fragmentary dialogue fills out Pak and Hoi’s rich histories as they tentatively build their emotional bonds. Yeung casts this against the weathered cityscapes and water banks of their hope, as well as the gentle curves of their ageing bodies. His vision is frank and honest about age’s intersection with sexuality and a refusal to shame or mock the couple’s desires, even as consequences begin to ripple out into their respective lives, is touching and refreshing.

Yeung’s love story has an activist heart, sketching out the struggles for recognition that face LGBTQ+ people in Hong Kong still today, but its sticking power is in the delicacy and empathy with which its central couple is realised. Suk Suk is a reserved and effective queer romance worthy of celebration.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Tai Bo, Ben Yuen, Au Ga Man Patra, Lo Chun Yip, Lam Yiu Sing

DIRECTOR: Ray Yeung

WRITER: Ray Yeung

SYNOPSIS: A chance encounter in Hong Kong brings Pak and Hoi together, two grandfathers who have spent their lives providing for their families. A delicate yet passionate film about love in later life.

[TRAILER COMING SOON]