This film is not a salute to the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's
return to the motherland.
This is one point upon which Mr. Cinema (Lao Gang
Zhengzhuan) director Samson Chiu, producer Henry Fong Ping and
actor Anthony Wong Chau-Sang agree. Instead, the film was shot in
40 days to depict the past 40 years of Hong Kong's history.
"Personally, I think this film would work as well if screened
during the 11th or 12th anniversaries," Fong told China
Daily.
For Fong, the film is first and foremost a story about a common
Hong Kong local - a character he believes most audiences could
empathize with - and then about the city.
"The Hong Kong story is not merely about poor people, but it's
not about the wealthy either," Fong says. "No specific group can
represent this city. We chose an ordinary man - a nobody - because
I always think stories about common people are the most
touching."
Using a Forrest Gump-esque structure, the film tells the story
of cinema projectionist Zuo Xianggang, whose lifelong dream is to
take a photo in Tian'anmen Square.
From 1967 to 2007, he and his family witness and experience the
major events of the region. They live through the 1967
demonstration against British colonial rule, the rise and fall of
the stock market, Hong Kong's handover to the motherland, the Asian
financial crisis and the breakout of SARS.
His dream, however, never falters. But he finds that his
dedication to his motto - "all for one, one for all" - clashes with
the realities of the world and even with his relationship with his
son.
The focus on a projectionist as the main character could remind
many filmgoers of Cinema Paradiso. But in making Mr. Cinema, Chiu
and Fong had much more in mind than creating "Hong Kong's Cinema
Paradiso".
Hong Kong is known as the oriental Hollywood. And the film's
investor, Sil-Metropole Organization Ltd, is one of Hong Kong's
most time-honored filmmaking companies, which runs a database
containing about 500 old films. The scenes in the film that feature
these old flicks, which are important parts of the city's history,
are intended to awaken audiences' memories.
But according to Chiu, the most important thing about the film
is that it reflects the experiences that Hong Kong's people lived
through.
Over the past 40 years, Hong Kong has witnessed dozens of
historic events, but the director wants them to be represented in
the ways they were pertinent to common people's lives. When
examining these events, most people care most about how they
impacted ordinary people.
In the film, Zuo lands a blow to the head when he joins the 1967
demonstrations against the British. His wife dies one year before
Hong Kong's return to the motherland, which makes his joy during
the reunification incomplete. And his son's aspirations to become
rich overnight are dashed when the dotcom stock bubble burst in
2000.
"Hong Kong people tend to focus more on reality," Chiu says.
"You think these events have passed, but when you see the film, you
rediscover a collective memory and realize all these things are not
far away. They just happened over the past four decades, and we
have experienced them together."
One impressive scene takes place in the local cinema during the
1970s. Children frolic, a mother breastfeeds her baby, lovers feed
snacks to each other and a boy spits chewed cane on the ground. It
is the noisy and vivid Hong Kong Chiu remembers.
On top of that, the hero's family lives in a bidonville on the
roof of a building, where all they could see are surrounding
buildings and electrical wires. Because of the high housing costs
during the 1970s, inexpensive dwellings such as "roof houses" were
then very popular among ordinary people but have since become
rare.
To construct a convincing roof house, Chiu rented the entire
roof of a building where he built a vintage room. The window
curtains, antenna, bed and mat they used in the film were all more
than 40 years old.
Fong says that many audience members shed tears at the film's
Hong Kong premiere on June 13, which ran eight days before the
mainland premiere.
But will the Hong Kong story create such a stir among mainland
audiences?
"Most mainlanders see Hong Kong on their travels - more so
recently, because that commute has become much easier to make in
recent years," Chiu says.
"But they don't know much about Hong Kong's past. Through this
film, they will see a different but more realistic Hong Kong, which
is fresh and attractive."
And Fong attributes his confidence in the film's mainland
success to the universality of the human feelings conveyed
throughout the storyline.
"When you see Forrest Gump from the perspective of a different
culture, do you find it hard to understand? Human feelings are
universal," the 30-year filmmaking veteran says.
As he explains, Zuo's devotion to his faith, the tolerance of
his loving wife, the generation gap between him and his son and
their eventual development of mutual understanding after years of
clashing, all appeal to universal human emotions. These elements
would work just as well, he says, if they were instead part of a
story about a Singaporean family, a Malaysian family or a family
from the mainland.
Chiu says he wouldn't feel frustrated if mainlanders don't like
the film.
"Someone has to try to figure out how to appeal to both
audiences," he says. "Actually, I am very curious about mainland
audiences' reactions, because this is what I can learn the most
from."
(China Daily June 23, 2007)
