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Moving out
For elderly residents leaving a lane house after decades, deciding what to take is often the hardest part of the move. The new flats are usually bigger than the rooms they leave, but households accumulated over a lifetime of thrift — bottles, newspapers, string, tins — rarely fit, and children and grandchildren often push to throw things out. What people keep tends to be what carries memory: dowry chests, letters, photographs, a piece of furniture from a parent. Much of the rest is given to neighbors, sold to scrap collectors who tour the lanes in the weeks before demolition, or left behind. The film records 顾阿婆's choices without comment. Her rule — take what reminds her of the lane, leave the rest — becomes one of the film's quieter lines.