Vital Signs, the fourth feature from writer-director Cheuk Wan-chi, offers a contemplative look at life, loss, and identity through the lives of two paramedics navigating vastly different personal journeys. Marking a noticeable shift in tone and thematic depth from her earlier work, this film—her first since the 2014 comedy Temporary Family—delivers a more grounded and emotionally resonant narrative. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Hong Kong, the film captures the emotional toll of a city grappling with uncertainty and the quiet, often invisible burden carried by those who serve on the front lines.
At the heart of the story is veteran ambulance worker Ma Chi-yip, portrayed with quiet intensity by Louis Koo Tin-lok. When we first meet him, he’s not racing through sirens or chaos, but rather engaging in a subdued conversation with his visiting in-laws, who are urging him to leave Hong Kong and emigrate to Toronto with his young daughter, Bonnie. The weight of their concerns, delivered as they glance out the window of Ma’s modest quarters, speaks volumes about the anxiety felt by many facing the city’s shifting social and political landscape. Shot in 2021, the film’s concerns remain acutely relevant, even if an earlier, less polished version surfaced at festivals in 2023.
Ma is a man shaped by pain—still mourning the loss of his wife and enduring the physical wear of years spent in service. His defiance of protocol and disdain for bureaucracy paint him as both rebellious and deeply human, a man who prioritizes lives over rules, even as he struggles to hold his own life together. Alongside him is a younger, less experienced paramedic whose career path intersects with Ma’s, allowing the film to explore generational contrasts, evolving values, and the impact of their demanding work on personal identity.
While the narrative occasionally feels loose in its structure, Vital Signs succeeds in evoking an authentic emotional core. It is a film that doesn’t shout its message but instead speaks through its quiet moments, its silences, and the daily realities of two men bound by duty and haunted by what they’ve seen. The result is a poignant exploration of what it means to find purpose, and whether one can still call a place home when everything around it seems to be slipping away.
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