Herbstmond

The situation is simple: a young Japanese man, about 25, from Tokyo (and called Tokio) comes to Hong Kong in search of cheap consumer goods, sex, and, above all, good Chinese food. He accidently meets a 15 year old, Li Piu Wai, and immediately develops an unlikely, offbeat friendship with her that borders on soul matehood. Luckily she lives alone with her grandmother who is a superb cook, a natural feeder, and who asks no questions. They communicate in somewhat pained English, as he knows no Chinese and she no Japanese. Director Law carefully shows that each has their own separate romantic and/or sexual world apart from the other. She with a Chinese high school student and he with an older Japanese woman he meets. To me, the separate relationships were more interesting that the one between Li Piu Wai and Tokio which had its moments but which also rang false fairly often, even irritatingly so at times. I still liked the film but not as much as I might have.

One interesting thing was that while it showed Hong Kong vividly (sometimes through Tokio's recently purchased video camera--which he should take back since it seems to only shoot in monochrome), it was a Hong Kong with almost no people in it. I don't remember there ever being more than 4 people on screen at once and that was rare: a singular approach to teeming Hong Kong.

This is an unusually subtle and beautiful film about the migrant experience. In small but resonant ways it explores themes of memory, identity and tradition both at the level of the culture and of the individual. In some ways it reminds me of _Hiroshima mon amour_, a much better known film on similar themes which may be a useful reference point for anyone who is not sure what to expect from this film.

Some of the simplest images in this film are also its most powerful: there's poignancy in something as unremarkable as a shot of the contents of a refrigerator, or in a young girl's distress at being told that her cherished local McDonald's is not a "traditional restaurant". It's not that the film is merely nostalgic, however. It's more about what it means to be poised in the instant between a meaningful past and an unknowable but very different future. At the very heart of the film is an unforgettable soliloquy by an old woman about her wishes for her descendants.

This is not a film that everybody will be able to relate to. But for the increasing number of us who find ourselves displaced from old certainties, it is gratifying, haunting and challenging to see a film like this one.