2010年3月11日 星期四

100311四之一:《歲月神偷》(Echoes of the Rainbow)

部分因為奧斯卡,但更因為疏懶,整整一個星期沒有更新博客。Today, I like to have a change.

Just returned from the award-winning Hong Kong production 《歲月神偷》(Echoes of the Rainbow).
With its success in the Berlin film festival, this nostalgic movie generated much enthusiasm in the local press amid a widespread conservation movement in revolt to the government-driven pro-property (“real estate” in American parlance) development of the last 40 years.
But to me, it is a mosaic with no theme and little message other than a video recap of the 1960s Hong Kong scene, the pre-prosperous period which baby-boomers treasure. After helping to make box office hits with acclaim in the last 30 years of so, 羅啟銳(Alex Law) is finally able to sit in the director chair and tells the story of his growing up. He has fulfilled his long-time dream. But the screenplay is weak. The only story element is a ‘puppy’ love shaped like the 1970 Hollywood production “Love Story” minus the heart-broken effect.
The weakest link in Law’s story is about taking the son with leukemia to Peking (now Beijing) for treatment during the height of China’s Cultural Revolution which almost devastated the neighboring British Colony in 1967 with riots inspired by the anarchism on the Mainland. As the diaglog goes, when those in Hong Kong with means seeking shelters in the West, it is hard to imagine those at the bottom would take their loved ones to a place rampant with gang fighting for help.
Having gone through the 1960s, I appreciate Law’s effort to leave a mark in the history for his generation. But the production simply cannot convince the “post-80s and -90s” generations (meaning those born after 1980 and 1990) who grew up in a highly prosperous and much more humane environment. Young people nowadays have little interests for the past, especially its not so pleasant realities. They may be interested in memorabilia from those periods but not the sad stories of the wretched society. They may still read Jane Austen but who likes Charles Dickens. Young people may simply jeer at scenes which Law treasures.

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