{ "id": "epkrb8ena8", "slug": "still-human", "title": "Still Human (沦落人)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2015-to-2019", "label": "Drama films 2015 to 2019", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2015-to-2019" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2015-to-2019.drama-films-2017-and-2018", "label": "Drama films 2017 and 2018", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2015-to-2019.drama-films-2017-and-2018" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Still Human (淪落人) is a 2018 Hong Kong drama, Oliver Chan Siu-kuen's debut, starring Anthony Wong and Crisel Consunji as a paralyzed man and his Filipina helper; it won three Hong Kong Film Awards from eight nominations.", "snippet": "Still Human (淪落人) is a 2018 Hong Kong drama, Oliver Chan Siu-kuen's debut, starring Anthony Wong and Crisel Consunji as a paralyzed man and his Filipina helper; it won three Hong Kong Film Awards from eight nominations.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2015-to-2019.drama-films-2017-and-2018", "markdown": "# Still Human (沦落人)\n\n**Still Human** (淪落人) is a 2018 Hong Kong drama film, the feature directorial and screenwriting debut of Oliver Chan Siu-kuen (陳小娟), about a paralyzed middle-aged Hong Kong man and the young Filipina domestic worker hired to care for him, who form a close bond while living under the same roof in a public housing estate flat.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1850) • [2](https://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/c12.html) It was a winner of the 3rd First Feature Film Initiative of Hong Kong's Film Development Fund, which financed the production, and it went on to eight nominations at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards, winning Best Actor, Best New Director, and Best New Performer.[3](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2018/AFF2018_Booklet.pdf) • [4](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title / director | 淪落人 (*Still Human*), written and directed by Oliver Chan Siu-kuen, her first feature[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1850) |\n| Production scheme | Winner of the 3rd First Feature Film Initiative, Film Development Fund; Oliver Chan received a HK$3 million grant[3](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2018/AFF2018_Booklet.pdf) • [5](https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2019/07/08/hong-kong-star-anthony-wong-i-realized-i-knew-nothing-about-acting/) |\n| Cast | Anthony Wong (黃秋生) as Leung Cheong-wing; Crisel Consunji as Evelyn Santos; Sam Lee (李璨琛) and Cecilia Yip (葉童)[2](https://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/c12.html) |\n| Format | Hong Kong, 2018, 112 minutes, Cantonese and Tagalog, color[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1850) • [2](https://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/c12.html) |\n| Release | Opening film of the 2018 Hong Kong Asian Film Festival; premiered 8 November 2018 at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival; Hong Kong theatrical release 11 April 2019[3](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2018/AFF2018_Booklet.pdf) • [6](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/8348379729225935160) |\n| Major awards | 8 nominations at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards including Best Film; wins for Best Actor, Best New Director, and Best New Performer[4](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/) • [7](https://www.scff.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/SCFF-2019-Book-All-2103-Final.pdf) |\n| Reception | 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (6 reviews); 7.6/10 on IMDb from about 1,900 votes[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_human) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8497794/ratings) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and characters\n\nLeung Cheong-wing (梁昌榮), played by Anthony Wong, was a construction worker paralyzed from the chest down in a workplace accident when an object fell from height at a building site. His wife divorced him and moved abroad with their teenage son (Himmy Wong Ting-him), leaving him alone in a cramped public housing flat, dependent on a wheelchair and on hired help.[10](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3005541/still-human-film-review-anthony-wong-crisel-consunji-shine) • [1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1850)\n\nEvelyn Santos, played by Crisel Consunji, is a Filipina who had been admitted to university but, under family pressure, gave up her dream of becoming a photographer and came to Hong Kong as a live-in foreign domestic helper to earn a living.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1850) • [2](https://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/c12.html) The two begin badly: Cheong-wing has already scared off previous caregivers with his cantankerous attitude, the two share no common language at first, and each distrusts the other. Over one summer, employer and employee move from friction to mutual understanding, and the film leaves the exact nature of their bond, employer and employee, something romantic, or plain human respect and affection, deliberately open.[2](https://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/c12.html) • [3](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2018/AFF2018_Booklet.pdf)\n\n**Two postponed lives.** The story is built on parallel disappointments. Cheong-wing has lost his mobility, his family, and his prospects; Evelyn has shelved her artistic ambitions for migrant labor that leaves her, in the festival synopsis's words, a faceless \"Filipino maid\" in Hong Kong, for whom ideals and art seem out of reach.[3](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2018/AFF2018_Booklet.pdf) Evelyn's photography develops from a private aspiration into a means of autonomy and a possible life beyond domestic work, and the film lets care move in both directions rather than flowing only from helper to employer.[4](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/)\n\n## Production\n\nThe project originated in Hong Kong's First Feature Film Initiative, a Film Development Fund scheme for first-time directors. Oliver Chan won a three million [Hong Kong dollar](https://www.edgepedia.org/hong-kong-dollar) grant for her screenplay and was mentored through production by executive producer Fruit Chan (陳果), the director of *Made in Hong Kong*.[5](https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2019/07/08/hong-kong-star-anthony-wong-i-realized-i-knew-nothing-about-acting/) • [1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1850) The film was produced by No Ceiling Film Production Limited with Golden Scene handling distribution, with Derek Siu as cinematographer and Oliver Chan sharing editing duties.[11](https://industry.hkiff.org.hk/image/catalog/files/news/20180324153428_77.pdf) • [4](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_human)\n\nChan has said the project began with two people she saw on a street in Hong Kong one day, and that she wanted to address the stereotypes and discrimination that persist toward migrant workers and disabled people.[12](https://industry.hkiff.org.hk/image/catalog/20180204015726_222.pdf) Casting was itself part of the film's social footprint: Crisel Consunji, a Hong Kong-based educator with no previous feature film role, won the part of Evelyn after reading about the audition in a Facebook advertisement, and the film was noted as the first Hong Kong film to cast a migrant worker as a lead, drawing discussion of the city's more than 370,000 foreign domestic helpers, who mainly come from Indonesia and the Philippines.[13](https://www.netflixmovies.com/still-human-2018)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe film opened the 2018 Hong Kong Asian Film Festival and premiered internationally at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival on 8 November 2018, before its Hong Kong theatrical release on 11 April 2019.[3](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2018/AFF2018_Booklet.pdf) • [6](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/8348379729225935160) Festival screenings followed in Japan, where it competed at the 2019 Osaka Asian Film Festival under the title みじめな人 and won the Audience Award, and at the Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy.[14](https://eiga.com/movie/91914/) • [6](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/8348379729225935160)\n\n**Critical response.** On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% Tomatometer from six reviews, with an audience score of 97%.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_human) Edmund Lee of the *South China Morning Post* gave it 3.5 out of 5, calling it one of those rare films that takes a distinctly Hong Kong scenario and turns it into a gently comical drama with universal appeal.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_human) Fionnuala Halligan of *Screen International* acknowledged the surface resemblance to the French hit *Intouchables* but credited Chan's writing and strong local flavor with making it a distinctly Hong Kong film.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_human) Reviewers repeatedly singled out Anthony Wong's restrained performance as both sympathetic and quietly funny.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_human)\n\n## Awards\n\nAt the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards, held 14 April 2019, the film received eight nominations including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress, and won three: Best Actor for Anthony Wong, Best New Director for Oliver Chan, and Best New Performer for Crisel Consunji.[6](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/8348379729225935160) • [4](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/) • [7](https://www.scff.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/SCFF-2019-Book-All-2103-Final.pdf) The 25th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards gave it Film of Merit, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor.[15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0eq_aNF5yg) Chan also won Best New Director at the Asian Film Awards.[16](https://cchchk.org/article/culture/filmread/%E6%B7%AA%E8%90%BD%E4%BA%BA/) Internationally, the film took the Audience Golden Mulberry and the Critics' Black Dragon award at the Udine Far East Film Festival and a NETPAC Award in Hawaii.[6](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/8348379729225935160) • [4](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/)\n\nWhen she received the Best New Performer award, Consunji expressed gratitude to the women who had opened up to her about their experiences, described them as modern heroes, and gave portions of her remarks in [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese), English, and Tagalog.[13](https://www.netflixmovies.com/still-human-2018)\n\n## Significance\n\nWith its strong box office performance and trophy haul, Oliver Chan emerged as among the most evident triumphs of the First Feature Film Initiative, and Anthony Wong, who had seen major roles become hard to come by after publicly backing the 2014 pro-democracy protests, earned one of the most warmly welcomed parts of his late career.[4](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/) • [10](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3005541/still-human-film-review-anthony-wong-crisel-consunji-shine) Commentators have credited it with giving contemporary Hong Kong cinema a humane and specific portrait of disability and migrant domestic labor, set largely within a public housing estate, without turning either subject into a lesson.[4](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/) • [17](https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/temporalities-a-disability-chronotope-and-empathetic-horizons-in--2/) Chan's follow-up feature, *Montages* (虎毒不), about the challenges of new motherhood, was selected for the New Wave competition at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival.[1](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1850) • [18](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/oliver-chan-director-motherhood-still-human)\n\n## References\n\n1. [台北金馬影展：淪落人 Still Human](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1850)\n2. [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019: Still Human](https://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/c12.html)\n3. [Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2018 booklet (Opening Film: Still Human)](https://bc.cinema.com.hk/filmfestival/hkaff2018/AFF2018_Booklet.pdf)\n4. [Cinema Anthology: Still Human](https://cinemaanthology.com/hong-kong/films/still-human/)\n5. [Film Legacy: Hong Kong star Anthony Wong interview](https://www.filmlegacy.net/blog/2019/07/08/hong-kong-star-anthony-wong-i-realized-i-knew-nothing-about-acting/)\n6. [快懂百科：沦落人](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/8348379729225935160)\n7. [Singapore Chinese Film Festival 2019 book (Still Human awards summary)](https://www.scff.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/SCFF-2019-Book-All-2103-Final.pdf)\n8. [Rotten Tomatoes: Still Human (2018)](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/still_human)\n9. [IMDb: Still Human (2018) ratings](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8497794/ratings)\n10. [South China Morning Post: Still Human film review (Edmund Lee, 10 April 2019)](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3005541/still-human-film-review-anthony-wong-crisel-consunji-shine)\n11. [Hong Kong International Film Festival Industry office: Still Human press release](https://industry.hkiff.org.hk/image/catalog/files/news/20180324153428_77.pdf)\n12. [HKIFF Industry: Still Human WIP project page](https://industry.hkiff.org.hk/image/catalog/20180204015726_222.pdf)\n13. [NetflixMovies.com: Still Human (2018)](https://www.netflixmovies.com/still-human-2018)\n14. [映画.com：淪落の人](https://eiga.com/movie/91914/)\n15. [Still Human official trailer (YouTube), awards listing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0eq_aNF5yg)\n16. [《號角》香港版：淪落人](https://cchchk.org/article/culture/filmread/%E6%B7%AA%E8%90%BD%E4%BA%BA/)\n17. [Canterbury Christ Church University: Temporalities, a disability chronotope, and empathetic horizons in Still Human](https://pure.canterbury.ac.uk/en/publications/temporalities-a-disability-chronotope-and-empathetic-horizons-in--2/)\n18. [Tatler Asia: Oliver Chan interview](https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/oliver-chan-director-motherhood-still-human)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2015 to 2019 › Drama films 2017 and 2018*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/still-human", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/still-human.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Still Human (沦落人)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/still-human. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Still Human (沦落人)](https://www.edgepedia.org/still-human)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/still-human](https://www.edgepedia.org/still-human). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Still Human (沦落人)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/still-human. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Still Human is a 2018 Hong Kong drama, Oliver Chan Siu-kuen's debut, starring Anthony Wong and Crisel Consunji as a paralyzed man and his Filipina helper; it won three Hong Kong Film Awards from eight nominations." }