[2025.02.14] CHUNG SUET YING HAS NO PRESSURE FROM HER BEST ACTRESS AWARD WINNING FILM RELEASE

Chung Suet Ying falls in love with sign language because of the movie. Neo Yau says that since the production wrapped over two years ago, he has already forgotten how to sign.

Chung Suet Ying has won her first Golden Horse Awards Best Actress with THE WAY WE TALK

The Adam Wong directed THE WAY WE TALK, stars Neo Yau, Marco Ng and Chung Suet Ying, tells the story of how three deaf young people are not afraid of objective constraints and use their own methods to open up the world.
courtesy mingpao.com

Chung Suet Ying won the Best Actress at the 61st Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan last year for her hearing-impaired role in the movie THE WAY WE TALK (HONG NGOR GUM TIN JUM MOR SUET), and her acting skills were highly praised. Chung Suet Ying and Neo Yau Hawk Sau spent a whole year learning sign language in order to play their roles well. The former even fell in love with sign language because of this. Yau Hawk Sau said that in order to play the dear, he must do this well out of respect for the deaf. THE WAY WE TALK would open in Hong Kong next Thursday (20th). First time Golden Horse Best Actress Chung Suet Ying said that there was no box office pressure, and she welcomed the audience to attend the shows because they were curious about why she won the award. Yau Hawk Sau called on everyone to pay close attention to the scene between him and Chung Suet Ying at the Dai Pai Dong in the film, because director Wong Sau Ping used special treatment and deliberately did not add subtitles. The audience could experience the feeling of Chung Suet Ying's character being exposed to sign language for the first time.

Chung Suet Ying and Yau Hawk Sau starred in the Adam Wong Sau Ping directed THE WAY WE TALK (HONG NGOR GUM TIN JUM MOR SUET), which told the story of how three deaf young people who were not afraid of objective restrictions and used their own methods to open up the world. Yip Tsz Shun (Yau Hawk Sau) came from a deaf family, the world has never had sound. Although life was full of obstacles, he used sign language to live confidently. Fong So Yan (Chung Suet Ying) was implanted with a "cochlear implant" when she was a child, and she struggled to learn to speak. Even with a "deaf accent", she still worked hard to be a "normal person". Also using a cochlear implant, Alan (Marco Ng Tsz Ho) had similar oral language skills to Fong So Yan, knew sign language and was a close friend with Yip Tsz Shun. He believed that deaf people should try their best to communicate with different people and open up the world. The three became good friends due to the sign language, and through their friction they saw even more truth in life. In the face of prejudice and unfair systems in the outside world, they struggled in the undercurrent of the deaf community and seeked the possibility of breaking through the sound barrier.

Chung Suet Ying's character in the film did not know sign language at the beginning, then learned from Yau Hawk Sau. "The hardest thing during filming is that sometimes I have preconceived ideas, deconstruct what the character should be from the perspective of the hearing. This is always the story of the deaf people, and then through getting along with the deaf actors, taking sign language classes, I have more knowledge of the deaf world in the process. I usually see the other person's reaction through my eyes, and I began to get used to reading lips and paying attention to the body language when playing this role. The difficulty was to enter the deaf world to play the role, and I was happy to have learned even more." She revealed that she was very happy to have her first taste of snorkeling because of the film, and the most unforgettable thing was discovering that she fell in love with sign language.

After Chung Suet Ying won the Golden Horse Awards Best Actress for the first time with the role of Fong So Yan. The movie will be released in Hong Kong on the 20th of this month. Would She feel that the audience would have great expectations for her? She said, "The pressure is not there, but I am grateful to the audience who watched the preview shows out of curiosity. During audience appreciation some viewers said that they came because they were curious about why I was able to win the prize. They even asked friends to go to the show as well. I think it's good, I hope everyone will be a little more curious, so more audiences will come to see our film. Each of the 200 audience members did a sign that they learned from watching this movie, which was very happy for me. Everyone tried to enter the world of the deaf, and then brought something home with them."

Yau Hawk Sau said that because the character's native tongue was sign language, in addition to knowing it he must also be very proficient. He had to appear to the audience that he knew sign language since childhood, so he needed to spend more time to prepare. "There was plenty of time, I have studied for more than a year before performing in the film. I also feel that in order to play a deaf person, I must do this well. This is a sign of respect for the deaf. The most memorable thing is, of course, learning sign language; because it takes time to immerse myself. When the screenwriter writes the script, he writes in spoken dialogue that requires conversion to sign language to be performed. It is a translator's work. I have to communicate with the sign language teacher and director to determine whether every sentence of the sign language performance is in line with the original meaning. This went on from pre production to production, each scene of sign language had to be adjusted as well. This part is more detailed and tested skills." THE WAY WE TALK was filmed the summer before last, and he admitted that he has almost forgotten how to sign. What he remembered the most was "I have already forgotten all my sign language."

Yau Hawk Sau said that the most labor-intensive scene in the film was the hot pot scene with the family at home, and how to present the barrier to sign language to communicate in a smoky environment. This scene has been rehearsed for a long time before filming, and he also thought that the result was very good, "Many scenes have to be rehearsed in advance, which is actually a good thing. Maybe foreign film rehearsals will take more time than us, but Hong Kong filming is expensive and the time that can be spent is usually less. I describe this movie as difficult happiness, and I have a long time to prepare to do this thing well."

As for the most profound scene, Yau Hawk Sau strongly recommended the Dai Pai Dong scene with Chung Suet Ying. Because the director used special treatment and deliberately did not add subtitles, the audience could experience the feeling of Chung Suet Ying's character being exposed to sign language for the first time.