Ten Years

This is a collection of five short films on what Hong Kong could be like in ten years.

The second short film tries to be stylish and unusual, but it just doesn't make sense. In addition, it deviates from the theme of the other four shorts. As a result, it is out of place and is not likely to be appreciated by the viewers.

The other four shorts are to the point, concise and explores the deep seated collective fear of Hong Kong people. The stories are believable, and are easily connectable with everyday life. They are unsettling to the core.

A futuristic Hong Kong no one wants to fathom! The whole premise of the five clips that make up this film is bold. Having said this, there is a mix of good and bad in this film.

The first clip starts off too slowly. The dialogue is too full of British influenced Hong Kong slang and at times it is hard to understand, even for Cantonese speakers who do not reside in Hong Kong like myself although those reading English subtitles will have no problem. Too bad because the plot was a good one but it was just not well acted or scripted.

The second clip is almost unbearable to watch. It was too far into the sci-fi mode that it made the story unbelievable. The acting was wooden, the story line was wandering, the filming looked cheap, and overall it just looked amateur. Fast forward if you wish, nothing missed here.

The final three clips are why you should watch this film. All are spoken in standard Cantonese, all are well acted, the scripts all make sense, and the viewer ought to leave with a sense of wonder and amazement. I liked the fourth clip the best with superb directing, acting, and filming and this clip alone can carry the whole film.

Definitely a must watch but skip over the boring parts after the first time.

If anything, this Hong Kong dystopian anthology film, "Ten Years," may've been overly optimistic. It only took four years from its release in 2015 and not ten to introduce an extradition bill as the opening salvo in the Chinese Communist Party's steamrolling of the rights of the citizenry of Hong Kong. Don't expect any more movies like "Ten Years" or many good movies for that matter coming out of the former-British-turned-Chinese colony from now on, either. Something about brutal and oppressive authoritarianism just isn't conductive to the freedom of expression required to make good art. When was the last time you saw a great movie to come out of Xinjiang, after all--"Mulan" (2020) included?

That said, I wish I could honestly say I found "Ten Years" a great film, what with its agreeable social commentary and that it reportedly won a Best Film award for which mainland China censored the awards show (and nobody even bothered to waste effort attempting to distribute the movie itself there). But, the anthology framework, filled as it is with some lackluster episodes, doesn't work very well. The second one, "Season of the End," is especially rather dull. Others, such as "Dialect," which follows a taxi driver forced to learn Mandarin in the once-Cantonese-dominant Hong Kong lest he lose his job, and "Self-Immolator," a mockumentary that seems especially prescient given protests and violence in Hong Kong in recent years, are better. I think the best is saved for last, "Local Egg," which ends with a bookstore's secret depository for contraband. It's the only kind of place where "Ten Years" itself could occupy in China now. An incredibly fitting end with one exception that I could spot: Captain America's shield. Once again, "Ten Years" may've been overly optimistic--in this case that Disney, or Hollywood and capitalism in general, wouldn't kowtow so shamefully to an authoritarian regime. Nope, that merchandise is more likely to be hanging in a politburo conference room than a hidden space for banned artifacts.

Politically, I would called it "5 years" instead of "10 years", because some parts of it is already a reality in 2020.

The film itself is original and challenging to watch if you are not familiar with the situation in Hong Kong. Over the last decade, I lost interest in HK cinema, you rarely come across any new subject. However, this film is "a breath of fresh air". It separated into 5 parts, personally I would prefer to give each segment an individual score due to its uneven quality. Extras - 5; Season of the End - 3; Dialect - 7; Self-immolator - 10; Local Egg - 8. Overall, some of it are very well made, clever and classy actors, but it is a pity some parts of it are very long and the acting is somewhere between bad and mediocre.

Watched this film based on the discussion it stirred upon its release.

Ten Years is a collection of shorts that paint a bleak picture for the future of Hong Kong. One cannot feel but helpless while watching these shorts.

Yet, this movie is more for those living in Hong Kong than outside. People who have never been to Hong Kong will not be able to relate or understand without more context. Maybe that's why it didn't catch on for non-Hong Kong enthusiasts.

3.5/5. I enjoy the film. I understand the underlying stories. But the message could have been done in a better way.