The Receptionist

A Taiwanese graduate begins work at a massage parlour, in this illuminating and authentic depiction of the migrant experience at London's margins.

Unable to find a job, Tina (Teresa Daley), a Taiwanese graduate living in London, starts working in an illegal massage parlour as a receptionist. As she gradually comes to know the women in this most dysfunctional of artificial families, where sex lies at the core of everything, she sees how they struggle to find a way to make their lives work, amid an undercurrent of violence and palpable danger.

Writer-director Jenny Lu based her pertinent script on the experiences of real-life subjects, lending her film an authentic, documentary-like power. Her debut feature gained a prize at the Asian American International Film Festival and it's an illuminating and vital depiction of the migrant experience at London's margins.