Montages of Modern Motherhood

Oliver Chan delivers the clouds but very few silver linings in her grim portrayal of real-world motherhood.

“My only regret was that I couldn’t give you a completely family.”

Motherhood is difficult, there is no arguing that. But is it that difficult? So asks Oliver Chan, with her blunt portrayal of raising a child in modern day Hong Kong.

Montages of Modern Motherhood follows Jing (Hedwig Tam), a postpartum mother who is struggling to adapt to her new life. Everything that could go wrong does; she is not producing enough milk, though her baby barely drinks what she is given and spends all day and night wailing; her mother-in-law questions everything and goes behind Jing’s back; and she struggles to find a nanny that will look after the baby so she can return to work. Her husband Wai (Siuyea Lo) does practically nothing to help, either.

The film doesn’t have any particular story per se, as its title suggests it’s a collection of scenes from her life, covering maybe three or four months. And there’s barely a single moment of respite during any of it. The film is as unrelenting as its howling infant, and doesn’t really let up until it decides it (or we) has had enough and ends.

Montages is a film that relies on the strength of its cast, and Hedwig Tam is a major saving grace. Tam’s performance is harrowing and believable, and though everything that happens to her stretches credulity, she makes it seem all too real, and to many people in audience, it might be. It’s just … so much.

I’m not saying that people don’t struggle in parenthood, and that new mothers don’t suffer as much as this character, but Chan in an attempt to showcase the hardships of being a new mother, fails to bring any joy to the prospect. Montages is as bleak as they get, with Jing only receiving bad news from peers, put-downs from family, and screams from a crying child. It’s almost two hours of nothing going right for her, with an ending that, while open, is about as drab as one can imagine. Is it affective as a film? For sure. Jing is a very endearing character, and you don’t exactly want anything bad to happen to her. It’s a real shame that it does, over and over.

There’s a stealth political element here. Hong Kong cinema has been getting progressively more bleak, as Hong Kongers struggle to see their future. This translates into stories such as this, where the future – the child, in this case – feels like it isn’t worth it to suffer through.  Jing is someone who sees life for what it is, while her husband is trying hard to cling onto a life that he once had, but has since long left him. Even if it’s subconscious, films like this that look ahead to the next generation can’t help but consider the state of, well, the State.

But that reading of the film notwithstanding, Montages of Modern Motherhood is pessimistic, and ends up as a great commercial for birth control. I just hope I wasn’t such a difficult baby. I should really call my mum.

Verdict: Montages is good, for sure, but it’s certainly not fun.

Overall entertainment 6/10
Violence: Open-ended/10
Sex: Not tonight
Crying: 100/10
Original title: Very dark
Happy mummy: Happy baby. Shame that never happened

Montages of Modern Motherhood (2024)
Also known as: 虎毒不 (Even a tiger, though cruel, does not)
Cantonese

Director: Oliver Chan
Writer: Oliver Chan

CAST

Hedwig Tam – Jing
Siutea Lo – Wai
Janis Pang – Mei-fung
Alice Fung – Fanny
Tai Bo – Wai’s father
Patra Au – Jing’s mother
A whole bunch of babies – the baby