Hong Kongs urban exoticism caught on film

Actors Gao Yuanyuan, left, and Daniel Wu appear in a scene from “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” The Chinese romantic comedy, co-directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai, is one of the opening films for the 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which kicked off Sunday. / Courtesy of HKIFF

By Lee Hyo-won

HONG KONG — For many Koreans Hong Kong cinema evokes a nostalgic pang for dark action flicks or upbeat romantic comedies from decades past, yet the region’s leading film showcase demonstrates how it continues to inspire fans near and far.

The 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) kicked off Sunday with two opening films that offer multifaceted views and insights to the city’s urban exoticism — the screwball romance “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and the shorts collection “Quattro Hong Kong 2.”

“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” brings together a glittery cast: mainland sweetheart Gao Yuanyuan, who crept into Korean hearts through Hur Jin-ho’s “A Good Way Knows” opposite Jung Woo-sung, gets tangled in a love triangle with the island’s heartthrobs Louis Koo and Daniel Woo.

It’s a delectable date movie that will sell well in Asian theaters — yet co-directors Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai attest to their iconic status in the local creative scene — albeit thoroughly mainstream, their work softens even the most jaded critics through the classic cure-all: innovative and polished storytelling.

Gao stars as an ordinary young woman working for one of Hong Kong’s financial institutes. The hours are flying by on the eve of the Asian Financial Crisis yet her heart’s clock has seized, failing to move past the breakup with a cheating boyfriend. But Central District’s claustrophobic urban design sets the stage for an uncanny office romance, as the executive of a neighboring firm (Koo) spies on the lonely beauty from his window.

Though love blooms through colorful post-it window displays and spontaneous mime games, our heroine fears her boyfriend to-be is yet another philandering heartbreaker. She is forced to make choices, however, when she crosses paths with a depressed architect (Wu), a modern-day, high-fidelity charming prince.

The film could have easily ended several times before it actually does, as the protagonist indecisively wavers between the two men in her life. But every time the story starts to drag ever so slightly, the filmmakers spices things up with clever twists and bouts of laughter.

Moreover, the movie offers an incisive look into the unique cityscape of Hong Kong and the people who inhabit it, which pave the way for more universal themes of love and the nature of modern-day relationships.

Mosaic of cultures

If “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” takes viewers on a tour of office cubicles then “Quattro Hong Kong 2” offers a more diverse portrait of the city and the jagged texture of its urban fabric — ranging from the dusty corridor of a rundown motel to a walk through exotic street markets and ride on the airport bus.

The four-part collection opens with a dreamy story by Brillante Mendoza. The Cannes winning Filipino director, known for his use of lush color schemes, offers a segment that is appropriately titled “Purple.” Like the in-between color that mixes hot red and cool blue, the film takes viewers on a sentimental journey through ambivalence — being caught between jealous resentment and tender affection.
The filmmaker depicts the duality through the juxtaposition of young and old minds as well as the dichotomy of Hong Kong’s monotonous concrete buildings and polychromatic markets and neon-signed alleyways.

In sharp contrast to Mendoza’s colorful mise-en-scene captured through handheld camerawork, Ho Yu-hang opts for black-and-white sequences shot from uncanny angles. In “Open Verdict,” a man with mysterious luggage insists on renting a windowless room at a motel, provoking the curiosity of the women who run the venue and inviting a team of Malaysian agents and Hong Kong cops to camp outside. The Malaysian cineaste offers a unique combination of comedy and suspense that makes for a thoroughly engaging audiovisual experience.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul brings a highly experimental work, “M Hotel.” In a way, nothing much happens — two young men goof around with a camera in a room with window that looks down at a plaza. Yet the Thai cineaste who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year creates some of the most intensive sound designs that keep viewers on the edge of their seats, as muffled noises suggest there are terrifying criminal activities in the making.

Last but not least, Stanley Kwan ingeniously transforms a mundane episode to artistic ends in “13 Minutes in the Lives of....” Though a native of Hong Kong, the director reenacts what every visitor to the city may easily experience on an airport bus heading downtown — the mixed conversations among young lovers from the mainland, gossiping housewives, a high-maintenance musician and an irritable local man that create “the music of life.”

Just as actor Terence Yin said “Hong Kong is a microcosm of sorts, a true melting pot” — and moreover, a venue that continues to inspire cineastes from near and far.

“We remain committed to promoting films to the whole community and to present a festival that brings together a diversity of cultures, styles of filmmaking, and the exchange of ideas,” said Wilfred Wong, chairman of the HKIFF Society during the opening ceremony.
The festival, featuring 335 films from 56 countries, continues through April 5. Visit www.hkiff.org.hk for more information.