It was a thrilling experience to see myself on the screen in a movie theatre. :) I was waiting to witness the mystery of how a director edits the film and how a story comes together in the end. Though I missed my first scene and several other scenes weren't in it for the sake of the story, I was happy to see something I experienced become something I can share. Yeah, Jiekai please edit it back to the 3 hour long movie ;D hahaha
After the sceening, it took me a while to ruminate on the whole film. It was definitely not a fast food type of movie, that you get what you expect. I left the audience with layers of emotions and uncertainty but also a feeling that was somewhat familiar.
The cinematography was so beautiful. There were many clever editing choices and interesting depictions of intertwined relationships between places and people. It was hard to say what it was about. However, if I think about it, my childhood memories don't come back to me in sequence or in detail. Sometimes, a certain smell, images, or even sounds remind me of my childhood. The film was personal yet had plenty of space and flow for the audience to project their own memories. There were two different time lines with one being when the characters were 17 and the other is what happens ten years later. I found it interesting that both of them were somewhat searching for their own destinations.
I was talking to the director Jiekai the next day, and we had a fun discussion. Why do we make the things that we make? For this film, he said it was "the sense of urgency". After coming back from the United States where he studied, he witnessed many rapid changes in his environment. Many familiar places were turning into more rail ways, or industrial spaces. So he felt like he had to make this film now, but not later. As an example, he mentioned on his flyers, "Upon the completion of our production, parts of the abandoned railway tracks were demolished to make way for the expansion of a Buddhist temple in the neighborhood; other segments were barricaded for redevelopment. - I wanted to capture and preserve the collective memories of generations of people embedded in them, and how they affect the characters in both profound and mundane ways. "
I do believe there are things that people need to do now, not later. Though it may bring the risk, sometimes it is important to catch the chance and be sensitive to its own universal timings.
Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this, Jeikai :)))
The next screening
Date: 03 Apr 2010 Time: 7:15 PM Venue: Hong Kong Space Museum Lecture Hall
