Shadows

Through the true story of a daughter in search of her biological mother, the film explores the similarities in mother-daughter relationships, while revealing the love-hate entanglements of blood ties.

B was abandoned by her Thai mother, Suwanna who left Hong Kong by the time B was 6-month old. After staying with a foster family for 6 years. Bottled-up sorrow yet feigned happiness subsequently led to depression. Seeking maternal love is the only reason why B, as a young adult, yearned to find her birth mother.

The search for her birth mother was never a easy way, facing countless obstacles and disappointments. She found solace in the only photo left of her mother. B strongly hoped she would look like her missing mother as she aged.

When B decided to stop searching,  the wheel of fortune turned and brought her to her mother, who was no less despondent than B. Suwanna had also been living under her mother’s shadow, defenseless. The interview with Suwanna revealed how Suwanna's mother forced her to marry for money, she reached the tipping point for the onset of a lifetime’s misery. Being the shadow of her mother, Suwanna still imposes the same set of values on B. Will that bring her redemption? The knots and ties of blood are so entangled that only karma can offer an answer.

The film is titled “Shadows” because of its many connotations; the obvious ones being somewhere in the shade or the traces of something, or someone.  Despite the estrangements among them, B, Suwanna, and Suwanna’s mother share several uncanny similarities – each living her life as her mother's shadow, or rather, they constantly step in and out of each other’s shadow as the light being shed upon them on changes direction. 

三十年後的久別重逢，是團圓救贖，還是故事的真正開端？

阿B半歲時，泰藉母親 Suwanna離家而去，阿B與兩位姐姐無奈由姑姐撫育長大。長輩的偏心，令B的童年過得並不快樂，成長的路上變得自我保護，更曾一度患上抑鬱症。這些日子能安慰B的，就僅有母親一幀舊照，她總捏著照片說「我想我老了的樣貌會跟她一樣」、「我的唱歌天份是遺傳自媽媽！」。母愛的缺席，再加上情路上跌跌碰碰，她歸咎自己不懂愛，更不懂被愛，而長大後的她越發渴望尋回生母，只想知道何謂母愛。

經過一次又一次的失望，由找到母親昔日好友至上門錯摸、至疫情下越洋泰國尋找失蹤三十年的人更是難關重重，當B打算放棄之際，命運卻把媽媽牽引回來！迷底終於揭開：當初受Suwanna親母脅逼促成的婚姻，是壓倒她的最後一根稻草，從此以後，她沒有快樂過，唯有打坐，才得一席安眠；而這些年Suwanna心底還有一個秘密，是她真正離開所有人的原因。

片名Shadows有雙重解讀，一是影子，二是陰霾的意思。儘管B、Suwanna與Suwanna親母之間存在著時間與地域的距離，但她們都像照鏡般相似，每個人都活在「母親」的陰影下，站在對方的影子下，看似能遮蔭卻也是在栓在無形的籠牢中。

母女眉頭額角間相似的輪廓、彼此外形性格上的共通點，都是阿B的唯一的安慰，然而三十年後秘密曝光，才發現三代之間，女兒作為母親生命的延續，無論缺席還是存在，不管如何掙脫，終其一生也無法擺脫影子，也不得不反思一段關係會互相影響，所謂的親情連繫，有時是剪不斷理還亂的羈絆。

預告片（中文字幕）
https://vimeo.com/762549474