Intriguing sights in a by-now familiar part of Tai Tam Country Park (Photo-essay)

Since I last went hiking on the Sai Kung Peninsula on the first day of the Chinese New Year of the Pig, I've watched five movies on a big screen -- four of them Hong Kong productions!  I've already reviewed two of them (see here and here) and plan to review the two others over the next few days.  But I'd also like to "work" a bit on my hiking photo backlog.  

So here's going back in time to a hot and super humid summer's day that saw me sweating buckets while getting quite the stair master-style workout in Tai Tam Country Park and putting up a photo-essay to remind me that, in addition to vistas involving multiple steps leading up Siu Ma Shan and Mount Butler, I also did come across other interesting sights while enjoying hiking that day with a couple of friends in tow... :)
 

 Among the more intriguing "finds" of that day's hike was what 

appeared to be a private shrine in a corner of the country park...

Actually more unexpected was the sight of water bubbling up from cracks 

in the rocks by the section of the Wilson Trail leading up Siu Ma Shan!

 

View from green Siu Ma Shan of the city down below

and across Victoria Harbour :) 

 

The view to the south is so much greener and idyllic...

 

Looking eastwards from the summit of Mount Butler

over across to Mount Parker and beyond

 

A tree with unexpectedly bare branches caught my eye 

on our way down Mount Parker Road

 

Damselfly delicatedly balanced on a tree's bare branch

 

 I hope it didn't suffer the fate of this dragonfly in the hands of this  

Golden Orb Weaver (which was large but still not the biggest I've seen)! :O

A Home with a View deserves better -- as does Hong Kong (film review)

Poster for a movie that deserves a larger audience

than film distributors seem to think

A Home with a View (Hong Kong, 2019)

- Herman Yau, director

- Starring: Francis Ng, Anita Yuen, Louis Koo, Cheung Tat Ming, Ng Siu Hin, Jocelyn Choi 

What is going on with Hong Kong cinema and local film distributors?!  Starting off with something positive: for the first time in a long time -- maybe even since I moved to Hong Kong close to 12 years ago now -- there are six Hong Kong movies (if you include a Mainland China-Hong Kong co-production directed by local comedy darling Stephen Chow) currently playing in local multiplexes.  

Now for the negative: the best by quite a long chalk of the three Hong Kong movies I've most recently viewed is the one that's been given the least publicity and fewest cinema screens to appear on.  With the kind of theme (housing woes) and tone (dark, even sad) that hardly screams out "Chinese New Year movie", A Home with a View also appears to have been dumped into cinemas -- after being completed a year ago and then seeing its original summer 2018 release date come and go -- and made to fight for scraps against the odds in a crowded festive field. 

Adapted from a play by Cheung Tat Ming (who also scripted the film as well as co-stars in and co-produced it), A Home with a View is a black comedy-drama about a family struggling to make ends meet as a result of being saddled with a hefty, multi-year mortgage for a not particularly physically impressive home that does have one major asset: its unimpeded harbor view.  However, they find that which gives them great psychological comfort suddenly taken away one day by a rooftop home owner whose money-making plans involve putting up illegal as well as large billboard structures atop highrise buildings.  

Already living in conditions that are far from ideal (due to such as five very different personalities living together in uncomfortably close proximity and being saddled with neighbors whose habits are annoying when faced with day after day for some years), this latest frustration threatens their very sanity.  Unwilling to take this latest obstacle to their collective happiness lying down, they come up with various schemes to get rid of the annoying structure that get increasingly desperate but also imaginative.

As someone who's also had to deal with some of the annoyances faced by the Lo family over the course of my time in Hong Kong, I really can relate to a number of the situations shown in the movie. And since I sincerely doubt that our cases are that rare, my sense is that there are many people out there would have some sympathy for, and fellow feeling with, at least one or more of its members: be it the patriarch trying to hold everything together even while feeling crushed by his circumstances (Francis Ng), his unhappy see lai wife (Anita Yuen), his infirm father too aware of his being burden on the family (Cheung Tat Ming), his jobless graduate son (Ng Siu Hin) and his secondary student daughter in search of peace and quiet when studying (Jocelyn Choi).    

Francis Ng and Co also make it easy to feel their frustrations and identify with their situation because they also are a sterling bunch of thespians (who include, lest it forget, a two time Hong Kong Film Awards best actress winner in Anita Yuen).  So even while their histrionics do seem on the theatrical as well as hysterical side at times, particularly when appearing alongside someone as emotionally stunted as Louis Koo's loner businessman character, they still can seem understandable and even called for.   

Also possessing a theatrical feel are the sets in A Home with a View.  Rather than chalk it off to the film's theatre origins though, I'm inclined to ascribe it to the restricted budget that its makers probably had to work with.  Especially in view of this offering not having received as much financial and other support as it deserved, I think Herman Yau and the others who worked on it deserve major credit for making the movie not only very watchable but also delivering so well the kind of salient messages that Hong Kong's goverment and bureaucrats really should hear and take heed of if they really care about Hong Kong (but, from past experience, I'm not going to hold their breath that they will, and do). 

My rating for this film: 8.5

Missbehavior gets a Chinese New Year discount (film review)

Bus stop advertisement for Pang Ho Cheung's latest cinematic offering

 

Missbehavior (Hong Kong, 2019)

- Pang Ho Cheung, director, scriptwriter and co-producer (with Leong Kai Yun)

- Starring: Isabel Chan, Gigi Leung, Dada Chan, Hanjin Tan, Chui Tien You, Yanki Din, June Lam, etc.

Back in 2001, in the same month that Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai co-helmed a movie adaptation of his novel, Full-Time Killer, Pang Ho Cheung made his directorial debut with You Shoot, I Shoot.  While the former film had the bigger stars, I enjoyed the latter work far more.  Consequently, I resolved to follow the writer turned filmmaker's cinematic career pretty closely and actually have viewed every single movie that he's helmed to date.

Over the years, there have been some Pang Ho Cheung films that really hit the mark as far as I'm concerned (e.g., Men Suddenly in Black, Aberdeen and Women Who Flirt) but also ones which didn't quite do it for me (e.g., Love Off the Cuff).  To sum it up in one word: I think his output can be uneven.  And uneven also is one of those words that can be used to describe Missbehavior, his star-studded ensemble comedy released in time to be viewed during this Chinese New Year of the pig that nonetheless isn't really a bona fide Chinese New Year movie in that it's friend- rather than family-centric and features such as a bondage scene (albeit one played for laughs) and copious amounts of boob jokes.

Missbehavior's plot can be summed up as follows: A group of "bitches" (the individuals have a tendency to refer to others in the group as baat por (Cantonese for bitch)) band together to help one of their own after she mistakes her boss' breast milk for low fat milk (yes, really), uses it to make a valued company client a cup of "flat white with low fat" and needs to replace the milk she took from the company fridge before her boss leaves work that day.  And a good measure of the film's star power can be seen by the "bitches" including ones played by Gigi Leung and Dada Chan, the boss in question being essayed by Isabella Leong and the valued client being portrayed by Patrick Tse.

To his credit, Pang Ho Cheung really does make the most of the many celebrity cameos, all of them effective and, particularly in the cases of Miriam Yeung and Lam Suet's, highly amusing.  He also appears to have elicited good acting performances from those actresses and actors with more significant amounts of time on the screen, with Dada Chan having put in a particularly eye-catching appearance in Missbehavior. 

But while Pang Ho Cheung the director appears to have done a generally good job (at least with the film's cast, which includes him in a role as the ex-boyfriend of two of the "bitches"), my sense is that Pang Ho Cheung the writer was inclined to be over lazy, often resorting to puerile jokes and scatological humor to milk (pun intended!) some cheap laughs from the offering's audience.  In particular, there's one example of toilet humor that literally is shit and not only isn't all that funny but also was actually so disgusting I found myself being super thankful that I had not bought anything from the cinema's concessions stand to eat while viewing the movie!

Still, Missbehavior's script does have some good bits that don't require the viewer to be in a super indulgent or majorly childish mood to appreciate.  Among the best jokes in the film are those which are topical, be they about Hong Kong's ridiculously high property prices or involve three characters dressing up as the Hong Kong Fire Service's "Anyone" mascot.  In addition, it was nice to see friendships involving a diverse group of individuals and gay love being portrayed in a mainstream movie in a way that was ultimately sympathetic rather than just for laughs.        

A friend of mine talks about how movies he views over the Chinese New Year period get given a "Chinese New Year discount".  Like him, I am inclined to view Chinese New Year releases in a more generous light than usual.  So, while Missbehavior is not one of Pang Ho Cheung's best movies, I won't say that I wasn't entertained by it.  Nonetheless, I do wish I had been entertained more consistently throughout the 90 minutes or so I spent viewing it, and hope that its undeniably talented filmmaker will do more and better with his next cinematic effort(s).
 
My rating for the film: 6.5

Hiking in Hong Kong during Chinese New Year :) (Photo-essay)

On the third day of Chinese New Year last year, I went hiking in southwest Lantau with two friends.  In light of how nice today's weather turned out to be (with the humidity levels having gone down and the gray mist and fog of the past two days having lifted by the afternoon), part of me wishes that I had gone hiking again on the third day of this Chinese New Year of the pig.

Still, it wasn't as though I didn't have a good time checking out my second Chinese New Year movie of 2019 this afternoon.  And I did also enjoy a good hike up in the Sai Kung Peninsula on the first day of Chinese New Year two days ago, which the following photo-essay (the first Hong Kong hiking photo-essay I'm putting up since last September!) commemorates:-
 

 This was not the first time I went on the Tai Tan Country Trail 

but the first time I saw this helpful handmade sign :)

I like this hiking trail a lot but it's not one I'll go on during 

the rainy season as sections on it probably would be 

water logged then, if not actually under water!

 

A noticeably hairy as well as beautiful butterfly

spotted nestling atop a clump of green leaves :)

The surrounding countryside remains mostly green but 

each time I return to the area, I do see more buildings at Tai Tan

 

  Something else noticeably different from the last time

I hiked along the trail was that a section of it had fallen 

into disrepair, probably a victim of Severe Typhoon Mangkhut :S

 

 Lots of tents spotted at one of the Wan Tsai Peninsula's 

two campgrounds this Chinese New Year!

Meanwhile, Hoi Ha village was quiet that day and

Hoi Ha Wan appeared positively serene!

The sight of cows lying on the road provide a good measure

of how quiet things were -- and the sight of a man stroking a calf

how placid and used to humans they appear to be! ;b

A special sighting involving a dancing unicorn on the first day of Chinese New Year :)

Sai Kung's Tin Hau Temple with festive decorations

on the first day of Chinese New Year

 

The sound of drums and this unusual sight 

caught my attention and drew me to the vicinity!

 

You know it's a special day when a unicorn

goes to pray at a temple ;b

 

Earlier today, I did what has come to be a personal ritual or tradition on the first day of Chinese New Year: i.e., I went for a hike in the Hong Kong countryside.  Like on two previous occasions already in 2019, I met up with friends in Sai Kung town before catching a green minibus that took us to our trail head up in the Sai Kung Peninsula.  But unlike on those two previous occasions, I arrived earlier in town than expected and consequently was able to take in some sights in Sai Kung town beforehand.

 

Since it's been some years since I paid a visit to the Tin Hau Temple in Sai Kung town, I thought it'd be worth doing so again this morning.  While walking towards it, I could see that there were festive decorations installed in its vicinity in the form of bright red banners and lanterns as well as colorful flags.  And I also could hear drums and gongs being beaten -- and upon getting near the site, got to realizing that they were being beaten for a dancing unicorn that was paying a visit to the temple!

 

I wasn't in time to see the dancing unicorn pay its respects to Tin Hau but I did get to witness it paying its respects to Kwan Ti (the god of war and righteousness who, like Tin Hau, was a real life historical figure) in the hall in the temple where a statue of him has pride of place.  Almost needless to say, I found this to be a pretty cool and special experience; one that most definitely doesn't take place every day -- but, then, the first day of Chinese New Year is a pretty special day in Hong Kong (and other parts of the world with a significant ethnic Chinese population)! :)

Flowers, foods, pigs and politics at the 2019 Chinese New Year flower market

Flowers galore at the Chinese New Year flower market...

 

 The abundance of pig plushies tells you what zodiac year's coming up!

 

And the topical political displays let you know what's on the mind of

many Hong Kongers even as the most festive time of the year approaches...

 

In just a few hours, it'll be Chinese New Year.  I've spent a good part of today cleaning up my apartment, and also spent some time today and yesterday shopping for food (even though I actually know that at least a couple of the supermarkets I shop at will be open every day of Chinese New Year this year).  And earlier still (on its opening day, in fact), I paid a visit to the Chinese New Year flower market in Victoria Park to check out what was on offer there this year.  

 

Entering from the Tin Hau side of Victoria Park, the first stalls I came across were those selling food and drinks.  Because it was so unseasonably warm when I went, I actually wasn't all that attracted to what I saw on sale -- a large percentage of which was "stick food", be it Hong Kong curry fish balls, Xinjiang lamb skewers or Japanese king crab sticks.  And it didn't help that there was a stall sending stinky tofu whose distinct -- and, to my mind, seriously smelly -- aroma could be detected several meters away!

 

Actually, one of my abiding memories of this year's Chinese New Year flower market may well be the strong aromas that wafted about the place; with there actually be two stalls hawking durian -- yes, really! -- and at least one selling kimchi located not in the designated food stall area but among those hawking pig plushies, pig-shaped balloons and the like!  And for the record: despite my actually loving to eat (Malaysian) durian quite a bit, I declined the opportunity to do so in Victoria Park; this not least because I have a feeling that the prices being asked (t)here for the king of fruits would be on the princely side!

 

While I walked quickly by the durian and kimchi stalls, I did linger in the section of the Chinese New Year flower market set aside for the sale of the titular blooms.  And while it's true enough that I never do buy any flowers at this festive fair (or, for that matter, the Hong Kong Flower Show that's also held each year in Victoria Park), I do like the sight of the many beautiful and colorful flowers set in row upon row next to one another or similarly auspicious plants that are particularly sought after at this time of the year, such as the "lucky bamboo" and orange trees. 

 

What I did come away from my visit to this year's Chinese New Year flower market with were a pair of Totoro-themed bedroom slippers and, as has become a customary practice for me since the Umbrella Movement came into being in late 2014, an item purchased at a stall operated by a political party that's part of the pan-democracy camp.  

 

While we're on the subject: this time last year, I got the sense that many people sought to steer clear of the overtly political-themed booths but this year, support for those associated with the Umbrella Movement looks to be up again.  At the very least, I personally observed a matronly woman walk up to the Demosisto stall and drop a HK$500 note into a donation box without anyone approaching her to do so.  And that action makes up one of my abiding memories of this year's Chinese New Year flower market -- along with the strong afternoon heat and strong smell of stinky tofu encountered in Victoria Park that day!

The 2019 Chinese New Year movie season opens with I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change! (film review)

Chinese New Year movie goodies for 2019! ;b

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change! (Hong Kong, 2019)

- Wong Cho Lam, director and co-scriptwriter (along with Joey Leung Cho Yiu)

- Starring: Wong Cho Lam, Teresa Mo, Ivana Wong, Eric Tsang

I love you, you're perfect, now change.  That sentence sounds pretty weird, yet was used as the title for what went on to become a very successful musical play which had its premiere in the USA but has gone on to be performed in a number of diverse territories.  And now that theatrical work has been adapted into a Hong Kong movie whose English title has an exclamation mark at the end and six character Chinese title is several syllables shorter.  

Back in 2005, the Windmill Grass Theatre staged a local adaptation of the musical theatre production featuring Cantonese language lyrics by one Wong Cho Lam.  Fourteen years on, the entertainer is the director, co-scriptwriter and one of the main stars of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!, a HK$20 million movie whose cast's eagerness to please along with its large size and multi-generational nature is entirely characteristic of Hong Kong movies released to entertain cinema-goers over Chinese New Year.

Still, it's not unlikely that, at one or more points during your viewing of the film, you might want to ask "What the hell am I watching?"  For rather than have a fairly conventional Chinese New Year story involving such as a multi-generational family along the lines of those found in the classic All's Well, Ends Well (1992), I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change! actually comprises a series of vignettes that all have to do with love together with romantic or sexual dissatisfaction in one way or another but otherwise aren't all that obviously related to one another.    

Early on in this movie that's filled with familiar and welcome faces, there's a hilarious segment set in a cinema and featuring Alex Fong Lik Sun and Ivana Wong playing a couple on a movie date.  Soon afterwards, the scene changes to Tai Po Waterfront Park, where another couple -- this one played by Wong Cho Lam and Joey Yung -- have just finished playing a bout of tennis which left one of them with a black eye.  Later vignettes include ones that take place in settings as disparate as a restaurant, a church, something that's a cross between a prison and the underworld, and a funeral parlor -- and adding to the craziness of it all is that Ivana Wong, Wong Cho Lam, Eric Tsang and Teresa Mo play multiple unconnected characters in the film!   

       

In view of its scatty as well as sketchy structure, it probably was inevitable that I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change! would be uneven in quality; with some segments falling flat and leaving the audience stone-faced even while others (including that which has Sammi Cheng stealing the show for the second Chinese New Year movie season in a row) were super successful in getting a number of us laughing loudly and a lot.  At the same time, the movie actually would have benefited from being less unvaryingly loud in tone and volume.  As it was, the scene in this offering that most resonated -- featuring an extremely sincere performance by Teresa Mo -- was the one that was the most low-key as well as dramatic.  

A measure of how consistently and over-the-top noisy this movie is should be evident by it literally giving me a headache that got me popping ibuprofen after the screening. Nonetheless, I do not regret having checked out I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!  This might say something about my masochism but may well speak more to my feeling that this festive cinematic fare does have enough entertaining bits to please its audience, especially those all ready to have a good time when the Chinese New Year of the Pig comes along!

My rating for the film: 6.0