My 2007 HKIFF viewing experiences (2)

(Continuing from yesterday...)

After This Our Exile (Hong Kong, 2006)
● Hong Kong Panorama 2006-2007 entry
● Patrick Tam, director
● Starring Aaron Kwok, Goum Ian Iskander, Charlie Yeung, Kelly Lin, Valen Hsu and Qin Hailu

After Patrick Tam completed his last directorial effort of the 20th century, the fatalistically romantic My Heart is That Eternal Rose (1989), he worked as an editor or art director on just four more films -- including Wong Kar Wai's Days of Being Wild and Ashes of Time (1994) -- before effectively going into exile in Malaysia.

And several years would pass before the now Malaysian citizen went on to add another film credit to his name (as editor for Johnnie To's Election (2005)) -- and one more before this respected "Hong Kong New Wave" auteur came out with this triple Golden Horse awards (including for Best Picture) winner that was shot entirely in Malaysia even while having a cast that includes individuals who hail from Hong Kong, Holland, Taiwan and Mainland China.

Thus far, only the shortened-by-40-minutes version of this substantive but stylistically spare drama -- whose screenplay took ten years to complete -- has made it onto home video as well as been screened in Malaysian cinemas. Consequently, one of the major attractions of attending this year's HKIFF for me was the opportunity to view the full 160 minute length "Director's Cut" of this film on a big screen.

To say the least, I did not feel let down at all by this compelling father and son drama -- and this even though it stars one of my least favorite Hong Kong actors in Aaron Kwok. Something else that truly amazes me about this deliberately paced work is how it is that after viewing its full length version, there isn't a single scene in the mature offering (for which Patrick Tam has co-scripting and art directing as well as full directorial and sole editing credits) that I think ought to be completely eliminated or even shortened.

My rating for this film: 8.5

Undercover (Hong Kong, 2007)
● Hong Kong Panorama 2006-2007 entry
● Billy Chung Kiu Hung, director
● Starring Shawn Yue, Sam Lee and Monie Tung

As it so happens, the next HKIFF screening I went to took place pretty much immediately after the conclusion of After This Our Exile as well as in the same venue as it. Consequently, it was hard not to think back and compare the film I had just viewed with the latest Hong Kong crime drama that centers on a troubled individual who has led a double life as an undercover cop whose world premiere I ended up attending that same day.

Much as I wish that it was otherwise, the bald truth of the matter is that this shot-on-digital video offering can't help but suffer quite a bit in comparison. And although its two male stars actually are ones whose movie appearances I often do look forward to seeing, their sturdy (in the case of Shawn Yue) and charismatic (in the case of Sam Lee) presence just couldn't make up for their characters being caught in a story that's tired, hackneyed and unneccessarily possesses the kind of misogynistic overlay that tales about heng tai don't really need to have (and, to my mind, would be far better to not possess).

My rating for this film: 4.5

Love Conquers All (Malaysia, 2006)

● Asian Digital Competition entry
● Tan Chui Mui, director
● Starring Coral Ong, Stephen Chua and Leong Jiun Jiun

This Malaysian indie effort has a reputation for being a favorite with film festival juries. Prior to its HKIFF appearance, it already had won the "New Currents Award" (for Best New Asian Filmmaker of the Year) and FIPRESCI Prize at the 2006 Pusan Film Festival along with a Tiger at the 2007 Rotterdam International Film Festival. And true to form, it triumphed once more in Hong Kong; this time walking away with the Asian Digital Competition's Golden Digital Award (i.e., first prize).

After getting a personal taste of it, I've come to the conclusion that there are three distinct categories of films: i.e., in addition to commercial movies and arthouse films, there also are those artsier than arthouse works which I'd separately class as "film festival fare". On a related note: The sense I definitely get is that these kinds of offerings really aren't for the likes of me.

Put another way: I wasn't impressed by this effort's acting, cinematography, editing and musical choices, never mind story and other content. Also, I didn't feel any sense of tension or empathy for the main characters. Would you after seeing a pretty young woman who's told early on by a male stranger -- who she ends up falling for and sleeping with -- how pretty young women get easily led down the road to prostitution against their will proceeding to get shown easily being led said road against her will?

In a nutshell: In a film festival that appears to have had too many films with stupid protagonists, this work's main character gets the prize for being the dumbest of them all. Consequently, color me extremely unimpressed -- by her and, also, Love Conquers All as a whole.

My rating for the film: 2.0

Four Moods (Taiwan, 1970)
● Li Han-Hsiang, Storyteller entry
● Bai Jingrui, King Hu, Li Xing and Li Han-Hsiang, directors
● Starring Peter Yang Chun, Li Lihua, Chen Chen, Jiang Qin and others

Like John Woo, the late Li Han-Hsiang is remembered these days as one of Hong Kong cinema's biggest auteurs. However, as with more than one now vaunted Hong Kong filmmaker, he also had a spell in Taiwan, during which he got into financial trouble.

To help him get through his dire straits, three of Taiwan's top directors in Bai Jingrui, King Hu and Li Xing decided to band together with Li Han-Hsiang to make a movie that would consist of four separate stories, each of which would be directed by one of this quartet of auteurs. The result was this omnibus offering with four stylistically plus substantively different segments that could stand alone if not for the fact that each of them is less than an hour, maybe even forty-five minutes, in length.

As I understand it (since the opening credits were not translated into English), the first segment was directed by Bai Jingrui. One of the movie's three stories which feature a ghostly presence, it feels very experimental due to its being entirely dialogue free even while also quite traditional as a consequence of featuring a traditional, even if percussion-heavy, accompanying soundtrack!

Early on in the second segment that was directed by King Hu, I worried that I'd be viewing one more dialogue free celluloid tale. Fortunately, after five minutes or so, there came some dialogue. And after a few more minutes, there came to be the kind of action that one has come to associate with King Hu and think that he is a genius at choreographing. And, to say the least, it all made for a very enthralling section of film indeed!

So much so that I was somewhat sad to see that section come to an end and be followed by a segment directed by Li Xing that was fairly interesting but no where near as distinguished as the King Hu effort that had preceded it. Also, for all of this third section of Four Moods having a vengeful man as its main protagonist, it featured far more melodramatic emoting than actual action and was not helped by having one of those plot twists that this viewer could see from a mile away (but the main character failed to do for some time).

Finally, there came the section of the movie which was helmed by Li Han-Hsiang. Unlike all the other works which I've previously viewed, this one didn't feature an elaborate set or pretty costumes. While some might rue this state of affairs, my own sense was that the work was all the better for this being so. For it seemed that, for a change, its helmer focused here on making his piece's two main characters into likeable ones and its admittedly powder-puff story -- one that's largely comedic even while also having supernatural elements -- into one which turned out to be altogether quite delightful plus entertaining to behold. :)

My ratings for the different sections of this film: 4.5 for the first segment; 8.0 for the second; 6.0 for the third; and 8.0 for the last (but by no means least; and one which caused me to wear a big smile on my face as I exited the Hong Kong Film Archive theatre that I viewed it in :) ).

(To be continued tomorrow...)