From left to right: Lam Suet, Patrick Tse Yin and
Gordon Lam Ka-tung at the world premiere of Time
Hong Kong International Film Festival first screening
Time (Hong Kong, 2021)
- Screening as part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Galas program
- Ricky Ko, director
- Starring: Patrick Tse Yin, Petrina Fung Bo Bo, Lam Suet, Chung Suet-ying
Advance warning: how I feel about this 2021 Hong Kong offering is undoubtedly affected by the circumstances in which I viewed it. It's not every day, after all, that one gets to attend the world premiere of a film; an occasion made all the more special not only by the cast and principal producer being there to greet you pre-screening but also upon your realizing, after the lights came back on post-screening, that its lead actor had been in the auditorium all that time viewing the film with you!
Eighty-four-year-old Patrick Tse Yin clearly enjoyed being back in the limelight again and lapped up the audience's enthusiastic applause both before and after the screening. And on the basis of his performance in debutant director Ricky Ko's Time, his first starring role in years (decades even?) was long overdue.
The movie opens with a sequence that shows an assassin, his female partner and their driver in action at Yau Ma Tei's Wholesale Fruit Market. Flash forward to the present and the deadly blade wielder's now working at a cafe handcutting noodles -- too slowly as far as the customers are concerned, so his boss decides to replace the now elderly fellow (played by Patrick Tse Yin) with a noodle-cutting machine! But just when it looks like a boring, lonely future is all he has to look forward to, his old partner (essayed by Petrina Fung Bo Bo) contacts him and their erstwhile driver (played by Lam Suet) with a proposition that involves their becoming members of the "Elderly Angels" suicide assistance squad!
Time is described in the Hong Kong International Film Festival booking folder as a "black comedy" but, if truth be told, I laughed less and had my heart warmed far more by this film that manages to both be infused with nostalgia but also, to cite the title of one of its principal songs, "Embrace Youth". The way it does this is to supplement the welcome reunion of its audience with beloved veteran thespians by adding in storylines that have them interacting with a considerably younger generation of actors and actresses (along with the familiar but by no means ancient likes of Sam Lee).
In the main sub-plot, Patrick Tse's character encounters a troubled schoolgirl (played by Chung Suet-ying) who he comes to develop a grandfather-granddaughter relationship with. Meanwhile, Petrina Fung Bo Bo's character has a son (played by Sam Lee), daughter-in-law and grandson who she has less happy relationships with than any of them would like. And Lam Suet's character hammers home the point in his own story arc that, sometimes, people ending up having stronger feelings for -- and more emotionally connected with -- people who are not their blood relatives than their actual kith and kin.
When viewed objectively, Time is a small, modest movie. But its message of comradeship and support of youth is so timely that it takes on a larger meaning for someone like me. Add to this the sense that this touching cinematic offering may well be its octogenarian lead actor's swansong and I couldn't help but feel really emotional at the end of my viewing of this work. At the same time, Patrick Tse Yin and the considerably younger (at "just" 66 years of age!) Petrina Fung Bo Bo showed here that they still have so much star power and charisma that I honestly hope that there'll be more films in the future in which they will prominently figure. And, of course, Lam Suet -- one of those Hong Kong character actors who always adds something to any movie in which appears -- too!
My rating for this film: 8.5
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