Dreams are the Forfeits Hongkongers Pay for Economic Development
Glamorous Youth is a gloomy and artistic movie about the growth of a Hong Kong boy who becomes a man in one year, Hong Kong people's loneliness and loss of dreams, the glamour of youth, the problematic relationship between typical Hong Kong men (港男) and typical Hong Kong ladies (港女) and the changing relation between China and Hong Kong.
The film is set in 2006 and ends in 2007. After 10 years since the handover to China, Hong Kong is on the surface a prosperous international city, yet Hongkongers value too much the importance of money and spend too much time working, so our family members are often neglected. As a result, most of us lack dreams and feel lonely. We don't know what we live for.
Apart from the messages engaging Hong Kong people, I love the cinematography and symbolic images e.g. the lighthouse with the light off and the train linking China and Hong Kong. Local places like Chan Nam Chong Memorial College, Cho Yiu Estate, Kwai Tsing Theater, Cheung Hang Estate, Kwai Chung Container Terminal, etc, can be seen. There are also lots of beautiful scenes showing the Hong Kong skyline and buildings which are sometimes deliberately made out of focus. They symbolize the characters' emotions, e.g. a clear sky seen while running, and convey a message that Hong Kong is prosperous on the surface, but in fact we get lost in this concrete jungle and cannot see our future clearly. Besides, the dark-yellow / dark-red rooms with a sharp contrast between light and shadow, the black-and-white factory and the dimly-lit wedding ceremony can highlight Hong Kong people's loneliness. Moreover, the mirror in the flat is cleverly used to show the inseparable, but alienated relationship between the father and his son.
The songs used fit the theme and mood of the movie very well, for instance, The Pearl of the Orient (東方之珠). The Cantonese opera (粵曲) also points out the importance of appreciating art.
The cast generally acts naturally and the actor who delivers the most finely nuanced and convincing performance is Tai Bo (太保) who stars as the main character's father undergoing middle-age crisis.
Nevertheless, the film can be more well-organized and focused. Moreover, the teacher is a little bit preachy and implying his sexual orientation seems unnecessary; so are the explicit sex scenes.
On the whole, Glamorous Youth is a sincerely made independent movie that most Hong Kong movie lovers can identify with. After the screening, the audience may ponder on the gloomy future of Hong Kong where people are only obsessed with money and forget about our dreams, without which we are only walking skeletons without souls. 4 / 5
影評刊載於「香港影評人協會」、「兩岸三地影評人協會聯盟」、「動映地帶」及「IMDB」。
---------------------------------------------------------
Accident is a beautifully shot and well acted Hong Kong thriller with an intriguing idea. Still, the last accident is not convincing owing to a large number of factors involved. What's more, the film can be darker and the main character can be more paranoid. 3.5 / 5
District 9 is a creative, entertaining and satirical sci-fi on racial discrimination. However, some plot holes deter me from giving it a higher score. First, why doesn't the government block the area and confiscate all weapons? Second, the main character just walks out of the laboratory too easily. Where are the guards? The lab should be in a highly confidential and enclosed underground area. Third, if an important part of an UFO falls down, why doesn't the government try every means to look for it? Fourth, when the government finds the main character who is very important, why do they only send two cars to catch him? Fifth, although the aliens are passive, we do see them kill humans and destroy things in some circumstances. I just don;t understand why they don't fight back when the whole group of aliens are oppressed by humans. Anyway, it is said that there will be a sequel called District 10 as there is an unfinished business at the end of the story. 4 / 5
Lorna's silence is a well acted drama. The first half is very engaging and realistic. However, the twist in the second half AND the ending come so abruptly that the audience may feel very puzzled. After watching the film, I read some messages in IMDB, which helped clear all my doubts over the ambiguous areas. Indeed, the film requires the audience to THINK. 3.5 / 5
At HKAFF 2009, I will watch 骨肉同謀 Mother, 牛鈴之聲 Old Partner, 愛之剝脫 Love Exposure, 援膠女郎 Air Doll and 扎賚諾爾 Jalainur.
沒有留言:
發佈留言