Hong Kong's answers to the Toronto International Film Festival

Friends in Canada ask what I miss from home.  In September, I was truly envious of Susan and John, Bill, Judith, and Diana, who wrote and told me about all of the great films they saw at TIFF.  HK hosts an international film festival in the spring, but we didn't attend it, since most of the films that were of interest were screened during the week we travelled to Cambodia (ah, the choices we have to make in life!)  We made up for TIFF by watching lots of films during the fall festivals.

Many of the consulates here sponsor film festivals.  First it was the Australian, then the Jewish, the French, and the German.  An Israeli festival is scheduled for January (why don't they combine it with the Jewish film fest?  Reminds me of the joke - two Israelis, three points of view).

A funny thing happened on the way to a screening at the Oz festival:  as I was walking down the street in Wan Chai near the theatre, I heard a woman say "Oh S---" very loudly.  She was a tall, blonde Aussie, stranded at an intersection - she had no idea how to get to the other side!  On main roads in HK, there are no traffic lights - you have to cross the street by the overhead footpaths, but finding the access to the paths can be tricky, since the staircases or escalators leading up are often hidden inside office buildings.  Dale to the rescue!  Since I had been in the same situation a few months before, I knew how to navigate us across the road.  She told me her whole life story in the five minutes it took to get to the theatre, and she was so happy to arrive on time, that she invited me to the pre-film cocktail party (she works for the Australian consulate).

The Jewish Film Festival was fun, though poorly attended.  We shmoozed with the director of the film The Third Richard, and passed the information about this terrific film on to the Toronto JFF via the grapevine.  We bought "macher" (big shot!) passes, and were able to see as many of the films as we wanted, although by the end of the week we began to run out of steam.

When the French film festival was advertised, I hustled to buy tickets to six films, including one with Gerard Depardieu.  Talk about people aging badly!  He's 61, and looks much older.  In the film Mammuth, he portrays a retiree travelling around to collect his pension.  He shows off his not-svelte physique, and, as my French friend, Jacqueline says, he's repulsive.  I would like to recommend The Big Picture (L'homme qui voulait vivre sa vie) - it's a terrific drama/mystery that is well-acted and well-paced.  Catherine Deneuve is exquisite in a supporting role (she has aged very well!).   We also saw Tournee (On tour), which won an award at Cannes this year.  I'm quite convinced that the panel of judges of that illustrious competition was paid a lot of money to vote for this embarrassingly bad film.

We saw an excellent German film last week called The Invention of Curried Sausage.  It was reminiscent of Goodbye, Lenin.  Barbara Sukowa won the best actress award for it at the Montreal Film Festival in 2008.

Being the film junkie that I am, I also went to see Le Concert on a rainy Wednesday afternoon (watching movies in the middle of the day is the height of laziness!).  It's one of the best films I've seen in a long time.  I was in a small arts-film theatre, with about 25 locals.  I laughed and cried throughout the film, but the rest of the audience was silent - I don't think humour translates well from one culture to another, especially through subtitles!  

The last of my film recommendations is Echoes of the Rainbow, a sentimental tear-jerker that was filmed on Wing Lee Street (blog May 10, Oct. 14).  A group of us watched the film the night before attending Professor Woo's lecture on the urban transformation of Central.  Professor Woo wrote her report on Wing Lee Street a year before the film was shot, so when all the hype occurred about preserving this street, she suddenly found herself a media star! (There Goes the Neighbourhood)  I was rather surprised at how clean and neat the filmmakers portrayed the street - I'm not sure it has ever been anything but a run-down slum.  But that's show-biz!

Some good films, like Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger, have come and gone very quickly in HK.  By the time we decide to go to the movies, the only films showing are action and sci-fi.  We'll catch up on what we've missed on our 15-hour flights to Canada next spring!