Blue Sun Palace

Constance Tsang's first feature is set in the Chinese community of Queens in New York. A sudden loss brings together two migrants who did not know each other. Both work in massage parlours and their lives are built around that labour. The film does not sensationalise migrant experience. The massage parlour here is not the ground of a crime narrative; it is an ordinary workplace and most of the characters' time is spent there. Exhaustion, meals after a shift and shared living spaces are the film's real material. Wu Ke-xi and Lee Kang-sheng take the leads. Lee's presence creates a link to Taiwanese cinema and his performance is, as always, extremely quiet. The film screened in Critics' Week at Cannes. Who it's for: those who like slow, observational American independent cinema and migrant stories. Who it's not for: viewers looking for plot; the film is built almost entirely on atmosphere and duration.