london film festival
Election
Hustle and Flow
The Death of Mr Lazarescu
Of Love and Eggs
Wrong Side Up
These are the movies HY and I saw at this year's LFF--he picked the first two, I chose the other three. I would have wanted to watch more, but time forbids such celluloid indulgence, and the organisers tend to write attractive blurbs, when in reality the piece turns out to be a complete disaster you'd think you threw £10 down the drain. After seeing Election and Hustle and Flow, which were both very entertaining and moved in an acceptable tempo, I felt kind of worried about my picks. However, the last three movies though not having the storyline, cultural background and humor that one would expect in a Hollywood film, they were indeed interesting pieces. Mr Lazarescu's long and strenous journey to get a decent operation made death appear like an injection of relief, though sadly, death never really took place at the end of the film. The eccentric Czech airport worker in Wrong Side Up displayed a subtle and quiet sense of humor that made me laugh. As for Of Love and Eggs, it was moving to see a small Indonesian community waiting the arrival of the dome to be added on their mosque, a spiritual feeling I can only experience from a distance. HY asked me which one would I consider the best. I thought Election, Hustle and Flow and Wrong Side Up were on top of my list, yet H was a feel-good, mainstream American movie with no surprises, and the ending of W was a bit of a drag; this leaves unsurprisingly with E. Especially when the sexy Ren Da Hua says calmly to his son, 'Let's go home', and then the familiar tune of Canto pop unfolds, I suddenly realised that no matter how many different cultures we are exposed to, at the end of the day, a Chinese would like to sit on the couch, sip a glass of pearl milk tea, have a bowl of congee and watch good-looking HK triads kill the hell out of each other. And what a great feeling that is.