The Icing on the Cake

I have taken an interest in the films selected for the Cross-Strait cum Hong Kong and Macao College Student FilmFestival at Cinematheque.Passion. I enjoy the films partly because they satisfy my curiosity about the skills of young directors still in the infancy of their exploration into the filmmaking world. My greatest pleasure, however, is attending the post screening talk. To a certain extent, I find it identical with a class in the Film Critics Program, from which I have derived so much joy and satisfaction.

Guided by the host, each individual director shares about his/her experience of film production and the message he/she wants the film to deliver. And there is inevitably discussion about some techniques used. To my great satisfaction, some of the techniques mentioned happen to be those I focused on while watching the film. On the other hand, I also get happily inspired by some details I have left out.

The interaction between the guest speakers and the audience is a great highlight, too. It reminds me of the Q & A session of the Film Critics class. But this time, instead of our lecturer explaining the techniques, it is the director talking about his own movie. As mentioned previously, questions usually arise on my mind while watching a film or afterwards. What can be more delightful than having the questions answered by the director himself?

During the talk after the movie “The Premise”, I asked a question about its Chinese name “Egg Wash”. In his answer, the director explained that the expression “egg wash” referred to a deliberate explosion in protest against an unfavourable condition. In the movie, people throw eggs at a farmer’s window in an attempt to make him agree to sell his farm. And the director’s mentor, who was among the audience, further explained the implication of the expression, referring even to its relation to democratic movements. This is a detail we audience may not have expected to learn from the movie.

I was particularly impressed by the director of a Hong Kong film named “Bomb of Love”. The pretty young girl’s sharing clarified some of my doubt about the film. Then a lady beside me raised questions about a few shots used. Obviously a director herself, she spoke so fast in PuTong Hua that I could not figure out what it was that she wanted to know. But seemingly without much thinking, the director responded to the questions fluently, also in PuTong Hua. I marveled at how the young girl took the challenging questions in stride. 

That is why I enjoy the post screening talks so much. In my opinion, while a well presented movie is already an art of self-expression, the director’s interaction with the audience is the icing on the cake.

Be appreciative

I was in Hong Kong attending a spiritual retreat organized by the Macau Biblical Association over the past weekend. Prior to that, we had been assigned a few paragraphs in Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter “On Care of Our Common Home” for our reading. We thus went with the expectation for a message from God through our contact with Nature.

The retreat began with a hiking trip in the Pak Sin Leng Country Park in Tuen Mun  (八仙嶺郊野公 園),  Hong Kong. Upon our arrival, we had a leisurely walk along the Lau Shui Heung Country Trail (流水響郊遊徑), stopping occasionally to admire the breathtaking scenery. The trail was lined with trees of different kinds. In spite of the approach of winter, most of the leaves remained fresh and green. We were particularly captivated by a rectangular-shaped pond with rows of trees forming what seemed to be a green curtain on one bank while their shadows cast on the water looked like a green carpet covering part of the pond. And in one area there was a large patch of flowering plants with a delightful pink that broke the monotony of the greenness. 

Fascinated by the scenic beauty of the place, we could not resist the camera urge. It seemed as if photo taking were the only thing we could do to show how much we appreciated the beauty of Nature. In fact, we saw the beauty as a rarity in Hong Kong, a city so prosperous and so filled with boisterous activities.

On our return journey, we met a number of school boys coming in the opposite direction. As a few walked past me, I heard one of them saying with excitement, “I’ve just scored a goal!” I then noticed the mobile phone in his hands. Obviously absorbed in his game, he walked unsteadily as he was making his way along the narrow path. I was about to call out to him to mind his steps but thought better of it when I caught sight of a young man who was probably the teacher.

When I got back to my reading later that evening, I started searching for the verses which had arisen on my mind during the hiking. One of them was verse 97 of “On Care of Our Common Home”, which tells how Jesus has taught us with his exemplary deeds to be in constant touch with Nature and to be attentive to its beauty.

In addition, verse 215 stresses the importance of the relationship between a good aesthetic education and the maintenance of a healthy environment. If we learn to see and appreciate beauty, we learn to reject self-interested pragmatism and consumerism. On the other hand, people who do not learn to stop and admire something beautiful tend to treat everything as an object to be used, thus abusing without scruple. It further draws attention to the need for education on a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society and our relationship with Nature.

The new way of thinking, as I see it, refers to being appreciative of beauty in its natural sense. Only when we appreciate the beauty of Nature will we show genuine concern about environmental conservation. When I was admiring the towering trees along the country trail, I wondered how long they could survive. Would these trees fall victims to increasing urbanization one day? On the other hand, people who care only for material gains from a prosperous economy and do not see the beauty of trees would find deforestation a means to an end and turn a blind eye to the resultant damage to the environment.

An awareness of the beauty of Nature ought to be aroused among the people, especially the youngsters. The school kid whom I met on the trail was so engrossed in his game that he was hardly aware of the trees along the way, far less admiring their beauty. Their teacher had done a good job arranging for them a visit to the country park but more efforts were needed to educate them on the right concept about the beauty of things. If youngsters like that one do not learn to appreciate the natural environment, and, instead, constantly indulge themselves in material goods, how can they be trusted to contribute to environmental conservation? 

We have got a lot of inspiration from the retreat. And my reflection focuses on one particular message from God: we must learn to appreciate the beauty of Nature, our common home, and take great lengths to ensure its sustainability.

What Damages the Boy’s Beauty – Movie Review: Beautiful Boy

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“Beautiful Boy” is a movie telling a plain story. The few preview shots already give a sketchy summary of what it is all about. In his interview by Los Angeles Times, David Sheff, a veteran journalist, relates his long struggle to get Nic, his son, out of the abyss of misery into which he has fallen as a result of his drug addiction. However, by no means is the movie weakly plotted. Though without an interesting dramatic story to captivate the viewers with, the movie serves well to draw attention to long established facts in relation to teen drug abuse problems. And, to achieve this aim, the director has used very impressive filming and editing techniques.

To show David’s repeated attempts at helping his son stop drug taking, the editing uses a number of “jump-cuts”, in which a continuous shot is suddenly broken and the image jumps to another background or even the same background but at a different time. At one shot David is reporting the loss of his son to the police and the next moment finds him talking with the latter at a different scene. Similarly, Nic, who is the sweet innocent teenage boy, suddenly becomes the drug addict that he has later turned out to be. This may be the director’s intention to show the father’s unfailing love for his son since his childhood. Hence, the temporal continuity of the scene is broken up from time to time, sometimes even in a rather confused fashion. 

Good sound effects are also used to keep the audience engaged emotionally. Very heavy rock music accompanies the boy driving a car in a heightened mood under the influence of a drug. Jazz music shows that the father is high on meth when he tries its effect for the purpose of research. And there are repeated multimusical beats getting louder and louder as the worried father is waiting in the hospital for news about his son. There is dead silence when the couple is watching their kids singing and dancing on stage, signifying David’s obsession with Nic’s critical condition. In addition, the appropriate use of canned music to punctuate a scene enhances the mood to be created. A few classical songs such as “Sunrise, Sunset”, “Heart of Gold” are an occasional welcome relief from the sadness of the family. And John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy”, the theme song, is undoubtedly the most soothing piece. Sounds, on the whole, are carefully constructed and manipulated with more satisfactory effects than what dialogues could have achieved otherwise.

We are all aware of incessant efforts to raise public concern about the serious harm done to the drug addicts and their families. And, in this aspect, “Beautiful Boy” is doing a good job. And, viewers are advised to stay till the end of the closing credits and be prepared for an amazing presentation.

My Venture into Film Analysis

In response to curious questions about my participation in the “Film Critics Program”, here is a brief account of my venture into the field of film analysis.

When I enrolled in the program I had actually been writing movie reviews for quite some time already and had, in fact, derived immense pleasure from it. My fondness for movie viewing all began two years ago when I was first recommended a film in Cinematheque.Passion. It was ‘Fukushima, Mon Amour’, one of the films selected for “German Film Festival 2016”. I was much attracted by its genre, which I found to be greatly different from that of most of the mainstream movies. I wrote something about the film. And that was my very first movie review. 

That movie viewing experience was followed by more and more others. Gradually, I have come to know that there is far more in movies that we can appreciate than their mere elements of entertainment. And now it is no longer for seeking entertainment that I go to movies. I enjoy digging out hidden ideas behind the scenes and making guesses about the director’s intention by analyzing certain shots that seem to be out of the usual pattern. I even go so far as to consider how the story plot could be reorganized to make the ending more impressive to the audience.

It is often with bountiful thoughts on my mind that I leave the cinema. On returning home, I can’t wait to put the thoughts into words before they are lost. This way I have written a number of movie reviews over the past two years. The joy is twofold: it satisfies my passion for movie viewing as well as extending my interest in writing.

Knowing that I had been writing nothing more than personal reflections, thus lacking in intellectual depth, I enrolled in the “Film Critics Program”. I am glad to have gradually acquired some of the useful techniques. Of course, there is far more about film analysis that Mr. Kaming, our lecturer, would have liked to share with us than he actually managed to during the six monthly modules. We are to explore further on our own and acquire experience through frequent practice. Mr. Kaming has also kindly offered to make himself available any time we need his advice.

As mentioned in my previous posts, I have learned a lot not only from our lecturer but also from my classmates, young people with a passion for movies and for writing. I thank Cinematheque.Passion for organizing this excellent course and look forward to another program as informative and enjoyable in the near future.

A movie that will touch every heart - Movie Review :Happy As Lazzaro

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From the very start the movie reminds me of “The Wonders”, a film by the same director, as both feature a vivid description of the simplicity of rural life and the country dwellers’ crudeness in appearance and behavior; there are, for example, kids running freely about unattended while their parents are busy working for a living. Long shots are used quite often to show the vastness of the open fields in which the people appear as merely tiny dots. There are also close shots of the grains during harvesting time, all typical of the farms in different seasons with intensive work in progress. This is probably one of the director’s favourite styles, preparing the audience for a poetic village prose. 

“Happy As Lazzaro”, however, is more than a simple country folk story. The plot is well organized to cast light on the wide gap between the rich and the poor. There is great emphasis on the poverty of the farmers as evident from such details as a shared light bulb, the meager shares of food on a celebrative occasion and the shabbiness of the lodgings. This well serves the purpose of exposing the problem of severe labour exploitation in the form of illegal share-cropping.The farmers are unknowingly victimized to the extent of being constantly unpaid for their work and are submissive to Marchesa Alfonsina de Luna, the queen of cigarettes, who interferes with even very small details of their lives such as a couple’s marriage plan.

The same problem exists when the movie undergoes a change in time and in the background. The victims are now the poor urban dwellers who are egged on to compete for jobs by minimizing their wage demand. On the other hand, there is repeated mentioning of high prices of goods, suggesting the possibility of the rich taking advantage of the underprivileged. 

“Happy As Lazzaro”, however, is not a tragedy. Quite on the contrary, the country folks are often seen to be very cheerful, laughing over a trifling matter and brushing off ill luck with just a sneer. And it is amidst these simple country folks that Lazzaro, the chief character, draws gradual attention. Though the Masques remarks on his “being exploited by the exploited”, always being ordered about and doing endless jobs, usually hectic and even risky ones, he never utters a word of complaint. In fact, as the movie name suggests, he is always wearing the same smiling face, impressing the audience with his innocent and angelic nature, loyal to his friends and always ready to offer help.

To audience with Christian beliefs, the name Lazzaro is somehow reminiscent of Lazarus, the poor man at the gate of the rich man in Jesus Christ's parable related in the Gospel of Luke. It is perhaps the director’s actual intention to refer to this Bible story to point out the fact that the rich who treat the poor with injustice will suffer evil consequences. On the other hand, the name may also refer to the Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead on the fourth day after his funeral. Such a reference is also reasonable, considering Lazzaro’s “resurrection” years after he had fallen to his death off a cliff. Even with the religious aspect aside, the message is quite clear that the gap between the rich and poor is a stubborn problem regardless of time and place.

With a theme so solemn, the film on the whole mirrors the realities of life and is very rationally convincing. The audience are taken quite aback, however, when it takes a dramatic turn, shifting forward in time, thus ending up being an imaginative story. There are, therefore, incidents and cases not easily understandable such as the edible plants in the vicinity and the chapel music audible from a great distance. And Lazzaro still sees his friends in their former appearance though they have grown a lot in actual age. Has Lazzaro been reborn with a kind of supernatural power? And what is the wolf doing in the city? Though wolves are said to have long haunted the village, posing a threat to the fowl, their appearance in town is a mystery, especially that of the one seemingly related to Lazzaro’s death and rebirth.

There are indeed questions left unanswered. And what actually happens can be a topic initiating much discussion. This is perhaps what makes the movie more inviting. One can always view the movie the second, or even the third time, just to find out more about the mystery surrounding the fate of Lazzaro and his friends. 

All in all, this is a story that will touch every heart and has a special appeal for audience who enjoy films that go in strange and unexpected directions.