Two African offerings at the Hong Kong International Film Festival (film reviews)

It's that time of the year... ;b

 

Mimosas (Morocco-Spain-France-Qatar, 2016)

- Screening as part of the HKIFF's Global Visions program

- Oliver Laxe, director and co-scriptwriter (with Santiago Fillol)

- Starring: Ahmed Hammoud, Shakib Ben Omar, Said Aagli

 

As I watched what its director has described as a "religious western" shot for the most part in Morocco's Atlas Mountains, I got to thinking how alien -- not just foreign -- so much of it looked and felt; with quite a few of the plot developments and story segues in French-born, Morocco-based filmmaker Oliver Laxe's Mimosas being far less predictable than those found in many a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster.  An experimental work which at times seems ethnographic in character and at others like it's going to be a more rugged version of hiking drama Wild before venturing onto truly unknown territory, it appears to depict stories taking place on different plains (and perhaps even time frames) linked together by the presence in them of a couple of characters. 

 

In a recognizably contemporary setting, a young believer (Shakib Ben Omar plays a character who shares the same first name as him) said to have baraka (be blessed) is given an unusual assignment by a man who regularly hires men to drive taxis on a day to day basis.  In other scenes that look like they may have been set before the onset of the modern era but are timeless enough that they also could conceivably take place in the present day, an elderly sheikh's ragtag caravan attempts to wind its way through and over the forbidding Atlas Mountains to the town where his ancestral resting place lies.        

After the sheikh ends up dying in the mountains, two of the party are charged with the task of taking the deceased's body over to Sijilmassa for a proper burial.  At least one of this pair is less than whole-hearted in his embrace of this assignment but after Ahmed (Ahmed Hammoud) and Said (Said Aagli) are joined by a mysterious stranger who describes himself as a shepherd, they find themselves being shepherded along by the fellow (who turns out to be none other than Shakib) into pitting their lives against natural and other obstacles to do what the more religious of the crew consider to be the right thing.  

 

The Screen Daily critic who viewed it at Cannes -- where Oliver Laxe came away with the Critics Week Grand Prize -- opined that Mimosas would prove "mesmerising for some, perplexing for others".  For this (re)viewer, the film actually proved to be a bit of both.  Intriguing and posing a number of questions (including, it would seem, about spirituality), its then declines to provide plausible -- or, at least, easy -- answers in a way that ends up frustrating but also impressing somewhat too!      

 

My rating for this film: 7.0

 

Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy (Chad-Senegal-France, 2016)

- Screening as part of the HKIFF Reality Bites program

- Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director and narrator

- With Clément Abaïfouta and other members of the Association of the Victims of the Crimes of the Hissène Habré Regime

 

Six years ago at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, I saw my first film from Chad.  The Screaming Man was directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.  And the same filmmaker is at the helm -- and serves as narrator -- for a documentary about the thousands of people tortured and killed by a little known African despot’s repressive regime, that has a number of the victims giving moving witness by way of their words but also the condition of their bodies.   

 

Hissein Habré ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990.  Brought into power with the support of the USA and France, he went into exile in Senegal after he was deposed, leaving behind so many ruined lives as well as dead bodies buried in mass graves.  The dead can't speak and some of the survivors can barely do so.  But those who are able to do so in Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy manage to very powerfully convey the trauma they suffered in prisons where terrible evil took place and wherever else Habre's secret police went.

 

It will be hard to forget some of the stories and details offered up in this documentary.  Also memorable are the people who bore witness on the film: individuals like Clément Abaïfouta, the articulate former prisoner who co-founded the Association of the Victims of the Crimes of the Hissein Habré Regime, and others such as the woman who channeled her anger at having been imprisoned and mistreated into becoming an officer in the rebel army, the once wealthy sugar trader so malnourished in prison that he is now suffering from brain dramage and has difficulties walking, and the man who had terrible things done to him but told of seeing the results of even worse things having been perpetrated to similarly innocent people.

 

The Hong Kong International Film Festival's program notes include the following: "Habré was finally convicted in Senegal in 2016: this film indicts us for not caring then -- or perhaps now?"  Sadly, in view of there being just 15 people (including myself) in the audience for the (admittedly weekday afternoon) HKIFF screening I attended yesterday of Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy, it does appear to be the case that many folks are guilty as charged.

 

My rating for this film: 8.0

Love Off the Cuff's not for the critical (film review)

The director and cast members -- plus the translator in attendance 

-- of the 2017 Hong Kong International Film Festival's opening film

Love Off the Cuff (Hong Kong-Mainland China, 2017)

- From the HKIFF's Galas program

- Pang Ho Cheung, director, co-scriptwriter (with Jimmy Wan and Jody Luk) and co-producer 

- Starring: Miriam Yeung, Shawn Yue, Jiang Mengjie, Paul Chun Pui

Out of the 19 Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) screenings this year that I went to get tickets for half an hour after the tickets went on public sale at 10am on March 17th, I only was unable to secure that for the fest opener.  Undaunted, I decided to try for standby tickets on the day itself and was pretty elated when I did manage to come by a precious ticket for the world premiere of the much anticipated Love Off the Cuff (which opens in local cinemas some two weeks after its HKIFF screenings).  

But when I went into the gargantuan auditorium that is the Hong Kong Cultural Centre's Grand Theatre and saw row upon row of empty seats up in its upper tiers, I felt somewhat let down.  And the sense of deflation after having some emotional highs was also the experience I had when viewing the third installment of Pang Ho Cheung's romantic comedy series that began with 2010's Love in a Puff and also includes 2012's Love in the Buff.   

Love Off the Cuff got off to a creatively offbeat start involving the recounting of a childhood scary story by Cherie (Miriam Yeung) whose logic Jimmy (Shawn Yue), ever the smartass, found easy to assail.  The duo's discussion was abruptly halted though when she -- who had been using her lover's legs as her pillow -- discovered that her hair had got caught in his jean zipper and it was downright hysterical to see what particular act her frantic attempts to free herself resembled!             

Later on in the movie, there's another amusing situation that ensues as a result of fairly innocent actions being plausibly mistakenly assumed to be far less so.  For the most part though, things often are too far fetched for my liking, particularly since I found myself doing what Jimmy had done with the horror tale that had scared Cherie so back when she was a young girl: i.e., too easily find holes to poke in the story to be able to go with the flow and feel affected by it.  

It's not just the infusion of some outlandish sci-fi components into the story that didn't work for me.  (Actually, that particular absurdity tickled my funny bone somewhat, as did some of the dirtier jokes in this film whose makers seemed to want to see how low they could go for amusement's sake!)  Rather, the old problem I had with Love in a Puff reared its head again here: namely, that I found it difficult to understand what Cherie saw in Jimmy that would make him her Mr. Right; which is not a trivial matter when pretty much the whole movie is about her wondering whether he is indeed the man that she wants to, and should, spend the rest of her life with.

To be sure, seven years on and two films as a romantic pairing later, Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue do exhibit an easy and pleasant chemistry.  But, no doubt in part because their characters' romantic scenes are so unsexual, they don't convince as lovers; with it really not helping matters when Miriam Yeung is clearly still wearing a bra even in at least one scene featuring the star-crossed pair in bed and Shawn Yue's underpants are too obviously visible underneath a robe when he's supposed to have discarded them in another scene in which they're supposed to be feeling all hot and randy.    

Another example of the filmmaking carelessness and narrative laziness that permeates this movie is the insertion into the picture of a female character who's supposedly Canadian Chinese, like Jimmy, but appears able to only converse in Putonghua (essayed by Mainland Chinese actress Jiang Mengjie), and whose primary reason to be in the picture is to provide Cherie and Jimmy with things to bicker about.  Furthermore, while the colorful characters played by Paul Chun Pui, Susan Shaw, Jo Kuk and company can be fun to watch, their antics feel like mere padding for content that otherwise wouldn't be sufficient for a feature film.     

To sum it up: Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue deserve better, and Pang Ho Cheung can do -- and has done -- so much better as a director and scriptwriter.  We're talking about the talented fellow, after all, who's crafted gems like Women Who Flirt with current regular writing partner Jody Luk and Dream Home with Jimmy Wan and Derek Tsang (who has an on-screen role in this movie as Cherie's brother), and whose solo scripting efforts include Aberdeen (the 2014 Hong Kong International Film Festival's much stronger opening film).

My rating for the film: 6.0

Jumping Ash is an entertaining blast from Hong Kong cinema's New Wave past (film review)

Who says there's no audience for old movies?!

Jumping Ash (Hong Kong, 1976)

- Leong Po Chih and Josephine Siao Fong Fong (who also co-scripted with Philip Chan), dirs.

- Starring: Ga Lun, Michael Chan, Chan Sing, Nick Lam, Josephine Siao Fong Fong

Among the candidates for the title of first Hong Kong New Wave film is a crime movie, co-directed by an Anglo-Chinese man who I first saw on screen playing a Peking opera theater owner in Peking Opera Blues, whose initial scenes take place in the Netherlands.  A commercial hit as well as a pioneering stylistic work that features shot-on-location scenes in atmospheric locales such as the Kowloon Walled City, Jumping Ash thrillingly tells the story of a powerful Hong Kong businessman-criminal who the police want to bring to justice and the family of the Amsterdam-based Triad boss he arranged to be killed want dead.

Rotund and oozing confidence, Tung (Nick Lam) outwardly appears to be a pillar of the establishment but is a major drug dealer who employs a deadly assassin (Michael Chan) to ruthlessly deal with those who stand in his way.  He's also got a number of officials, including those in the upper echelons of government and members of the police force, in his pocket but meets a cop he's unable to bribe in Callan Leong (Ga Lun), a police inspector intent on taking Tung down.  

In addition, in his attempt to forcefully gain control of the drug supply out of Amsterdam, Tung makes a formidable enemy in the form of the brother (Chan Sing) of a man he arranged to have spectacularly killed on his own turf.  And things get pretty complicated as well as hot indeed when the vengeful party heads over to Hong Kong to settle matters with Tung. 

Its plot may sound nothing of the ordinary but the energy and life invested into the making of the film makes Jumping Ash feel really special.  Also, some of the action scenes (choreographed by Michael Chan and Cheng Kei Yin) are really exciting: not because there are special kung fu moves employed but, instead, because the violent struggles are filmed in such a way that one gets a good sense of the sheer desperation of those (including, in one instance, Josephine Siao Fong Fong's surprisingly feisty character) who have the odds stacks against them.

The fashion of the times can make many of the men in the movie appear laughable, especially those whose trousers have super wide legs.  There's also a scene involving a black man in this 1976 effort that I would like to think would no longer be acceptable in a more contemporary film.  Still, for the most part, Jumping Ash looks to have managed to stand the test of time.  Indeed, not only is it still very watchable and entertaining but Hong Kong movie fans like this one are moved to rue our not seeing more of the kind of raw enthusiasm and sheer daring it has in spades in Hong Kong cinema these days.         

My rating for the film: 8.0

Japanese strawberries and French champagne go together a treat! :)

Large strawberries, and delicious too! :b

A good drink to go with sweet strawberries :)

 

Surely this can't be becoming a habit?  Last fall, I succumbed to the siren call of the Japanese golden peach.  And while there was a time when I considered people who purchased and ate expensive Japanese fruit to be excessively indulgent, if not plain out of their minds, I fear that I may have now joined the ranks of those folks who don't consider it a completely crazy thing to do; this particularly so when sharing the bounty with good friends!

 

While on the subject of good friends: the past two Wednesday evenings has seen my South African drinking buddy generously sharing very nice bottles of premium champagne with me and a few other friends he regularly sees at Sake Bar Ginn!  Last week, it was a bottle of fruity Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial which came in a metallic case of the like I've never seen before.  The previous week, we had vintage Dom Perignon, which tasted very fine indeed!

Knowing in advance on both occasions that we'd be having some champagne (before we moved on to sake), I decided it'd be good opportunities to get some strawberries since they appear to be in season, and are fruit that I've read go well with champagne.  As for the decision to go with Japanese ones: I figure it'd suit the setting since we'd be meeting at a sake bar.  More importantly, I had a strong feeling that Japanese strawberries would taste better than ones from other parts of the world; this based on the significant qualitative difference I'd previously noticed between such as Japanese peaches, melon, tomatoes and grapes from that grown in other parts of the world.    

Rather than get them from a Japanese supermarket like Citysuper or Aeon's, however, I went and bought the strawberries from the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market which has vendors that, contrary to its name, sell to individuals rather than just wholesalers.  And when I saw the vast difference between the prices charged for them at such as Aeon and Apita versus at the Yau Ma Tei market, I'm so very glad I did so!

 

While the price was definitely lower over there, I don't think the quality of the fruits themselves were.  In any case, on both occasions, everyone who got to taste the strawberries I got agreed that they were super delicious.  And it was interesting too to discover how much the strawberries and the champagne complemented each other, and also had an effect on the other's flavor.  

 

With the Dom Perignon, it seemed like the champagne made the strawberries taste sweeter even while the strawberries made the champagne seem finer.  Somewhat unexpectedly, the Moet & Chandon and strawberries pairing actually didn't have the same result.  Instead, it was more a case of that particular champagne's particular flavor becoming accentuated by the strawberries and the fruit's taste seeming to acquire added 'body' when imbibed with champagne!  

 

In any event, almost needless to say, both weeks' pairings were very enjoyable indeed.  And for the record: it really is possible to not get sloshed during an evening spent drinking champagne and sake.  The trick is, I believe, moderation.  And it helps too to have quite a bit to eat, including deliciously juicy fruits that could (almost!) be considered as nice a treat as the very fine alcoholic beverages! ;b   

Peace in the country park but unrest just outside its borders? (Photo-essay)

Years ago, while hiking with two friends in Pat Sin Leng Country Park, our three pairs of eyes were unable to spot a couple of turn-offs.  Consequently, we ended up going to Sha Lo Tung for the first time ever.  On that occasion (and a subsequent one), the village appeared abandoned.  But on another visit, there were signs of human as well as other animal and plant life in the area that's actually outside the borders of the country park but bordered by it and declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its rich biodiversity and historical value.

Still, nothing prepared me to see plowed fields around the village where there previously had been land that looked to not have been disturbed by human hands for decades on my most recent visit to Sha Lo Tung.  In addition, there were handwritten signs all over the village that, frankly, looked quite disturbing and smacked of communal strife.  

To say the least, all of this was a marked contrast to the bucolic feel of much of the other sections of countryside that we passed through on that particular hike that took us from Lau Shui Heung (and its irrigation reservoir) down to the green minibus stop that lies just south of Fung Yuen Butterfly Reserve.  And, among other things, it's left me treasuring all the more Hong Kong's country parks and the opportunities their existence gives people like me to commune with nature in surroundings that really are beautiful and can make one (at least temporarily) feel at peace...    

There really are large swathes of Hong Kong that 

have more trees on them than buildings :b

On considerably higher ground than Hok Tau's irrigation reservoir but 

still lower than Pat Sin Leng and its surrounding hills over in the distance

 

Also towering above my hiking pal and I were

many of the trees in the area :b

 

A warning sign spotted as we neared Sha Lo Tung 

that I had never previously seen in the area

 

A scene that struck me as rather disquieting...

 

...and the signs with red characters seemed to spell trouble :S

 

In truth, this time around, I found the images produced using 

an "illustration effect" more visually pleasing than the reality

 

 Also, it actually felt like a relief to leave Sha Lo Tung, with the scenic 

views that unfolded as we made our way downhill to Fung Yuen 

going some way to restoring our spirits before the hike's end

Two terrific young actresses and a bittersweet friendship are at the heart of Sisterhood (film review)

The poster for the movie whose Chinese title

translates into English as "Massage Girl"

Sisterhood (Hong Kong-Macau-Taiwan, 2016)

-- Tracy Choi, director and co-editor (with Tina Baz)

-- Starring: Gigi Leung, Fish Liew, Jennifer Yu

 

Two of the actresses in this female-centric drama that's directed by a woman (first-time helmer Tracy Choi) and has a script written by another woman (Hong Kong movie veteran Au Kin Yee) are in the running for honors at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards (whose awards ceremony will take place tomorrow evening).  Debut-making actress Jennifer Yu has been nominated for the Best Newcomer Award while Malaysian thespian Fish Liew is competing in the Best Supporting Actress category. 

In contrast, their more established co-stars -- not only first-billed Gigi Leung but also supporting cast members Stephanie Che and Teresa Mak -- have not garnered any nominations.  And this is only fair since, even while these women were a welcome presence in Sisterhood, the fact of the matter is that it's Fish Liew and Jennifer Yu's parts and performances that are at the very heart of this affecting film.

Set in both the present day and the late 1990s, Sisterhood begins with a female innkeeper in Taiwan coming across a notice in the newspaper about the death in Macau of a woman who used to be her best friend but she had been long estranged from.  After Sei (played in older form by Gigi Leung) returns to the former Portuguese enclave for the first time in 15 years ago and does such as reunite with two former massage parlor colleagues cum honorary "sisters" (essayed by Stephanie Che and Teresa Mak) as well as look for her erstwhile best pal's now grown-up son, the audience is shown -- primarily by way of a series of extended flashbacks -- how the young Sei (played by Fish Liew) and more worldly Ling (portrayed by Jennifer Yu) formed their friendship, and how close it actually got to be.   

Like her film's protagonist, director Tracy Choi was born in Macau and spent time in Taiwan.  Consequently, she is able to both capture on film what the Macau of yore felt like and also how much the territory has recognizably changed in recent years.  In doing so, she serves reminders that her native land possessed a seedy underbelly even before its 1999 transfer of sovereignty from Portugal back to China but, also, was a place where people could enjoy simple pleasures such as hanging out at neighborhood eateries and singing karaoke with friends.    

After film school in Taiwan, Choi did postgraduate work at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.  But whereas its director (and co-editor) looks to have drawn upon Hong Kong film industry's still considerable pool of talent for the bulk of Sisterhood's crew along with cast, this Hong Kong-Macau-Taiwan co-production has been given the sort of unhurried pacing that one associates more with the Taiwan film industry than that of Macau's sister Special Administrative Region.

From the viewpoint of someone who is a bigger fan of Hong Kong cinema than that of Taiwan, there are sections of this offering that can feel like they go on for too long.  On the other hand, other segments of this drama do benefit from the story being given sufficient room to develop and unfold like they do.  In particular, it's commendable how the bittersweet relationship between Sei (who grew up as an orphan) and Ling (who becomes a single mom) gets shown to grow so very naturally, and how their characters are accorded time to evolve, mature and just plain breathe. 

In addition, Sisterhood contains a number of quite lovely feeling and looking scenes that it's good to have had time to take in, really look around and appreciate.  And when the film ends, I found myself lingering in the cinema as the end credits rolled and final song played rather than hurrying out the way that one is wont to do with movies that aren't able to deliver as much of an emotional impact and recognizable quality.  

My rating for this film: 8.0

Vampire Cleanup Department shows there's life yet in Hong Kong cinema! (film review)

The Hong Kong poster for a very Hong Kong movie!

Vampire Cleanup Department (Hong Kong, 2017)

- Chiu Sin Hang, director-music composer, and Yan Pak Wing, co-director-scriptwriter

- Starring Babyjohn Choi, Chin Siu Ho, Lim Min Chen, Richard Ng

Have you ever been disappointed by a movie you went to see because its trailer made it looked really good?  I'm pretty sure of it, and chances are high too that there have been occasions when you've been put off watching a film because its trailer made it looked stupid, overly unattractive or even just plain godawful.

Less likely, surely, will have been those times when a friend and/or film critic's high praise made you reconsider your initial disinclination to check out a movie and you then actually found yourself really bowled over by it upon finally viewing it.  But that is in fact what happened with Vampire Cleanup Department, which I finally only caught on a big screen close to three weeks -- an eternity by Hong Kong cinema standards -- after it had been released in local multiplexes!

A supernatural action-comedy with the kind of special effects that can look cheap and corny at first glance -- but be nostalgia-invoking and seem fun when viewed in the right context), among the most pleasant surprises of this film are how it doesn't just opt for cheap gags and laughs but, instead, actually possesses a well-told story that's full of likeable as well as interesting characters who are pretty uniformly well portrayed by young guns and veteran thespians alike.  

The uniquely-named Babyjohn Choi plays Tim, a young adult raised by his eccentric grandmother (Susan Shaw) after being orphaned as a babe.  An unassuming, underconfident fellow who talks to his phone's virtual assistant more than any female in his age group, his life changes dramatically after he comes across -- and is bitten, in the butt by! -- a vampire in a neighborhood alley one evening, and comes to learn that he's immune to vampire venom and gets recruited to join the clandestine Vampire Cleanup Department of which his parents (who he had thought were regular street cleaners) had been invaluable members.          

Mentored and trained by the likes of unit members "Uncle" Chung (Richard Ng), "Uncle" Chau (Chin Siu Ho) -- who had been good friends with his father -- and a Taoist priest known as Master Ginger (Yuen Chung Yan), Tim learns how to fight and kill vampires using tried and tested techniques.  But complications ensue -- to say the least! -- after he encounters, then actually falls for, a female vampire (winsomely essayed by Malaysian internet sensation Min Chen in her first film role) who had been buried alive more than a century ago to serve a local dignitary turned super scary vampire in death.       

An immensely enjoyable updating of the venerable Hong Kong vampire movie tradition (which includes classics such as Sammo Hung's Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980) and Ricky Lau's Mr Vampire (1985)) which also very knowingly references Hollywood's Ghostbusters, Vampire Cleanup Department is a thoroughly admirable local effort; and all the more so when it's realized that it's helmed by a pair of debut-making feature film directors.   

With efforts like this, Hong Kong cinema offers up hope -- positive proof even -- that, contrary to the notices of its death that have been periodically offered up for more than a decade now, there's still life in it.  Even better, its future may actually be pretty promising, courtesy of the welcome infusion of talented new blood combined with the continued participation of some still very game industry veterans.

 

My rating for this film: 8.5