Mr. Cinema

Year:2007
Director:Samson Chiu Leung-Chun
Cast:Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Ronald Cheng Chung-Kei, Teresa Mo Sun-Kwan, Karen Mok Man-Wai, Bau Hei-Jing, John Sham Kin-Fun, Andrew Lin Hoi, James Ha Chim-Si
Description:
Director
Samson Chiu returns to the Golden Chicken formula
for Mr. Cinema, an affectionate look at forty
years of Hong Kong history. Anthony Wong stars as
Zhou Heung-Kong, a pro-communist leftist in Hong Kong
whose life takes some affecting, though seldom surprising
twists over the next forty years. An idealistic, China-loving
fellow, Zhou
works as a projectionist in a local cinema specializing
in Mainland fare. A massive fan of the movies from
his motherland, Zhou seems to subscribe to the idealism
presented in them, and lives his life with the same
righteous code. "All for one, and one for all," is
Zhou's rose-colored motto. Who wants to bet that he'll
receive a rude awakening by the time 110 minutes is
up?
At first, Mr. Cinema
seems to be treading the path towards that obvious
bit of movie moralizing. Zhou is a caring father who
clearly loves his wife Ying and their
son Chong, but his love for China may be greater.
He's always willing to help others before his own
family, especially his fellow leftists, as well as
neighbors and friends, who he's not above lending
- or giving - money to. Zhou's penchant for handing
out cash isn't the best thing for his family, however.
Their life is already quite austere, with the family's
savings going towards the basics, plus the possibility
of Zhou's long-desired journey to Tiananmen Square.
But life in Hong Kong seems to require more than Zhou
can provide; Chong naturally is attracted to Hong
Kong's increasing materialism, and even Ying desires
one day to own a private flat. The family currently
lives on a cheap rooftop, and as the years pass and
Hong Kong's fortunes rise, a steady stream of neighbors
leaves the rooftop for a better life.
But not Zhou, whose steadfastness
to his values is as maddening as it is admirable.
Chong grows up , and bemoans his poor education in a leftist
school, as well as his lack of anything resembling
upward mobility. His life becomes one of odd jobs
and get-rich-quick schemes, many illustrating and
even lampooning the fast-paced lives of working class
Hong Kong residents. However, luck is an absent mistress
for Chong; Zhou donates Chong's tuition money to a
neighbor's son , and Chong keeps missing
chances to connect with his childhood sweetheart Min
. Meanwhile, Zhou and Ying continue their
austere existence, but as Hong Kong changes through
the decades, Zhou never wavers from his faith in China,
sacrificing attention to his family for loyalty to
the party and his homeland. Life's hardships eventually
take an irreversible toll on Zhou's family; once the
trouble hits home, will Zhou finally renounce his
leftist ways and realize China isn't all it's cracked
up to be?
Standard narrative expectations
would insist that Zhou finally get with the program,
wake up from his China-loving ways, and embrace a
more pragmatic life. Generally, he should have put
the needs of the few over the needs
of the many , and life as a card-carrying communist
hasn't accomplished that. However, that message is
something one might expect from a film that actually
attempts some criticism of China, and that's not what
Mr. Cinema is at all. Besides being a Mainland
co-production, the film was produced and conceived
as a commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the
Hong Kong Handover. As such, its view of history is
decidedly rose-colored, choosing to avoid potentially
uncomfortable topics
for more general and less politically-inclined events.
The Hong Kong Handover, Y2K, the Asian Financial Crisis,
and SARS are some of those issues, and the film uses
the events in a canny manner, sometimes with humor,
but never without humanity.
Mr. Cinema eschews
criticism for the inspirational, choosing to portray
Hong Kong people as troopers who brave hardship, if
not willingly then readily. Mr. Cinema is an
affectionate film rather than a nostalgic one. Never
does the film truly portray the past as better, opting
instead to use Hong Kong's hardships as a way to demonstrate
its people's humanity and resolve. It's a nice sentiment,
and Samson Chiu handles the material well, never overdoing
the comedy, while also earning the drama. Unlike the
Golden Chicken films, the focus here is on
a handful of characters, with no deviations for distracting
star cameos. Chiu's characters are identifiable and
even admirable, and the actors go a long way towards
making them worth caring about. Zhou could be seen
as a bit of a buffoon, but Anthony Wong gives him
integrity and humanity. Teresa Mo is equally good
as Ying, and the supporting cast shore up their parts nicely. Most surprising,
however, is Ronald Cheng, who frequently overdoes
Chong's bluster, but does so with an underlying emotion
that works wonders. Many of the film's key relationships
hinge on Chong, be it his relationship with his father,
or his long-gestating romance with Min. Cheng imbues
Chong with a basic sympathy, and nails his emotional
scenes with surprising facility. For quality performances,
Mr. Cinema provides some of 2007's best.
However - and this is a very
big however - Mr. Cinema is very guilty of
something that we'll call "selective history". Generally,
the film portrays history accurately, using it as
a way to define its characters and their growth. However,
one event that greatly affected Hong Kong goes suspiciously
unmentioned: the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989.
The reason for the omission is obvious; after all,
this is a film meant to celebrate the Hong Kong-China
reunion, and nearly twenty years later Tiananmen Square
is still a touchy subject in the Mainland. The censors
can breathe easy; in Mr. Cinema, the event
is ignored, and judging by character reaction, may
never have taken place at all. That's a bit of a problem.
Given Zhou's ardent desire to visit Tiananmen, and
the film's running joke of how he never finds the
chance to visit, the omission comes off as a disservice.
Frankly, to gain a complete portrait of Zhou Heung-Kong
and his family, Tiananmen Square needs to be there.
We're getting a deliberately watered down history
in Mr. Cinema; the Hong Kong on display is
more than just rose-colored - it may be willingly
blind.
This
isn't to say that Mr. Cinema needs to openly
criticize China to be successful. Truthfully, the
film works just fine if one looks at Mr. Cinema
as nothing more than a cursory walk through history,
much like the gimmicky history presented in Forrest
Gump or the previous Golden Chicken movies.
On a pure enjoyment level, Mr. Cinema comes
up aces, delivering fine performances, affecting characters
and situations, and sentiment that feels very at home
in Hong Kong. The film extols the humanity and innate
decency of its characters, celebrating the Handover
not only historically, but metaphorically with its
many plotlines involving reunion. When watching the
film, there is much to like, and one may not feel
inclined to criticize the film for its obvious aversion
to tough topics. Anyway, such a discussion may best
be handled elsewhere, like some sort of cinema ethics
class, or maybe your favorite Internet forum. Basically,
if you're looking for political and historical accountability,
then Mr. Cinema will absolutely disappoint,
and could even be viewed as irresponsible filmmaking.
However, if you're just looking for something that's
touching, bittersweet, and feels uniquely Hong Kong,
then Mr. Cinema is a quality time at the movies.