| After one early directorial attempt, the ghost/romance Finale In Blood and bit parts in movies such as Haunted Cop Shop and 3 Days Of A Blind Girl, acclaimed director Fruit Chan found his desired path as as a filmmaker with the independent effort Made In Hong Kong. Armed with a low budget and utilizing amateur actors, the end result was met with 3 Hong Kong Film Awards including Best Picture and Best New Artist for star Sam Lee (who was hanging out in the streets of Hong Kong and studying to be an electrician when he was discovered by Chan).
Co-produced by Andy Lau, Chan's story of disillusioned youth, coupled with the uncertainty of the 1997 handover, is in a minor way a terrific but challenging film. Using voiceover akin to Wong Kar-Wai's work and mostly emplying a straightforward style (most of the final act is the one leaning towards arthouse), Chan isn't about to easily let in the viewer on his theme. It's not a drama that has a hook 5 minutes in, it's rather through some well-placed and even haunting voiceover towards the end that Chan seals his intentions. There exists a gap in the film between the adult world and the youths but Chan passes judgment on both (although characters like Sam Lee's Moon seem to possess more nobility than hopelessness). Made In Hong Kong clearly does present a gallery of doomed characters though, living in the transitional, bleak times according to them and I'm sure that communicated very well to the Hong Kong people but Westerners still have much to appreciate. If you want to be rewarded, you can with Made In Hong Kong but its scattered narrative may be frustrating for some... |
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