Synopsis:
Drifting is a cinematic narrative on a group of homeless dwelling in streets of Sham Shui Po, an urban area that is commonly portrayed as a neighbourhood for the grassroots, the poor or the left-behind. The screenplay of the film is based on true events and aims to explore how the group of street-sleepers, mostly with drug addiction background, strived for survival when being marginalized under rapid urban development, and how they resist social stereotyping. The narrative reveals the contrast between the encounters of the street-sleepers in the local neighbourhood and the prosperous impression of Hong Kong on the international stage.
Script:
GC: Good morning or evening where-ever you are, welcome to our podcast today on architecture and film. We are your hosts today. I am Gilbert.
CC: And I am Chak. Today we will be talking about the film Drifting, a film based on a true court case illustrating the stories of the street-sleepers in Hong Kong, or more specifically, in the neighbourhood of Shum Shui Po. The film was released in 2021 and directed by Jun Li. So, shall we run through the general outline of the film?
GC: Of course, but before that I think it’s worthwhile to introduce the background of the director, Jun Li.
CC: Sure, can you tell us what’s so special about Jun Li?
GC: Jun Li was once an architecture student from HKU Architecture but then later transferred to the school of Journalism and Communications at CUHK. Drifting was his second film and with this film, he won the 58th Golden Horse Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Throughout the film, it is obvious to observe that he combined the two disciplines well to explore the issues of marginalized urban communities.
CC: Right, so starting from the very beginning we can see his intention of using architectural elements to tell a story, without words. The camera angle starts on the level of the flyovers to film urban Hong Kong: from the Hill Road flyover near HKU all the way to the West Kowloon Corridor in Sham Shui Po, the urban landscape of Hong Kong is being revealed, at speed.
GC: Exactly. The whole filming of this part is on a moving vehicle on the flyovers. At such speed, the magnificent built-up environment is shown while the flaws of the urban landscape are being omitted. It is interesting to see that the camera angle first started with a posture of looking up, towards the modern high-rise residential tower, the luxurious condos. Gradually, the camera rotates to a horizontal eye-level filming the deteriorating apartment buildings in the Yau Tsim Mong area as it approaches the Tung Chau Street flyover, where later is the main location of the whole story. The camera eventually reaches the ground to begin its narrative of the street-sleepers. We can see such contrast of the urban landscape being reflected in the very beginning of the film and how the film relies on the infrastructure, which is the flyover network of Hong Kong to lead into the narrative.
CC: Entering the storytelling, Drifting follows the narrative of Fai, a street-sleeper in Sham Shui Po, and displays the living conditions of the street-sleepers, their attitude towards housing issues in Hong Kong, and explores the societal notion of community and home.
GC: The film establishes a strong statement saying that ‘the city is like a prison as Fai said ‘Everywhere is the same in the city’ for him. The screenplay purposefully indicates whether staying in the prison or out of it feels the same to Fai, or also to other street-sleepers who are being ‘abandoned’ in the process of development. The “thesis” of this film is reflected in the character of Fai, who just got released from prison and rejoins the community of street sleepers.
CC: The film features a wide shot of Fai nestled with these abandoned home furnitures at a public street corner amongst the street infrastructural conditions. We can see how the set transforms this public location into an exposed living condition for the street sleepers. Compositionally speaking, this shot at hip-angle lends itself to the statement of the city as a prison. The fence is made visible in the foreground, acting as a barricade between the audience and Fai, rendering him as a confined individual despite being in an outdoor setting. The defensiveness of the public infrastructure is made apparent in this shot and establishes the relationship between the street sleeping individual and the brutality of the city. But then very soon there was the first conflict between this community of street-sleepers and the authority.
GC: I guess you are referring to the same night that Fai rejoined the street-sleepers. At midnight, the officers came to clean the streets. All their properties: the beds, cupboards, or even the plastic sheets sheltering the street-sleepers from the sunlight, were being cleared. Fai struggled and argued with the officer but the result was unsuccessful.
CC: In this scene, the properties of the street-sleepers were being described as ‘trash’. This is the scene that explicitly initiates the discussion of how the homeless were left behind and isolated as the city is moving forward. The role and purpose of architecture is also being reviewed.
GC: When land is prioritized for profitable development projects and living space is distributed based on the abilities to buy, housing in such a context does not serve its primary purpose of sheltering people and providing a safe place for dwelling. Architecture is being used as a tool for profit maximization and fuelling the engines of development, but not manifesting its impact on improving the built-up environment and thus the livelihood of the people, which supposedly should be its fundamental value.
CC: Throughout the development process of the urban area, this group of homeless is being marginalized and they lose their stakes as parts of the urban communities given their underprivileged background, let alone the pressure from social stereotyping.
GC: As the screenplay continues, Fai, together with other street sleepers later built their own homes with found objects – plywood boards, chairs etc., creating an enclosure under flyovers. This space also transforms into a communal, gathering space for the street sleepers as they make a home out of the rather unfriendly conditions of the streets, engaging in activities like dining, playing music, and performing traditional rituals. So other than being an everyday living space, the space under the flyover also becomes a social condenser.
CC: Yeah, shared circulation, overlapping and intersection of programs within the space equip itself with the ability to influence social behaviour. Street-sleepers almost derive their routines based on the architectural settings under the flyover. Meanwhile, the location of this dwelling is interesting too, being under a flyover. Gilbert, why don’t we talk briefly about that?
GC: Sure. There is a contrast between what’s happening above the flyover and below it in this film. There are these tracking shots of vehicles moving along the highways from above the flyovers, these sequences are in motion and open, traveling through the districts in a raised conditions. Contrarily, the wide shots under the flyovers are static and enclosed. The shanty dwellings of the street sleepers are dwarfed by the seeming monumentality of these flyover infrastructures from a low angle, generating this thematic contrast between how the urban landscape is seen as we are on top versus how the urban landscape is experienced while we are on the ground.
CC: Right, the shots above the flyover are mobile, while the shots under the flyover are static. The contrast here can be interpreted as a reflection of the social immobility of street sleepers under the housing market of Hong Kong, where it is impossible for them to acquire ownership of a legitimate space and remain at the bottom of the hierarchy of society. The film combines the architecture of the city with the use of cameras and cinematography to convey the social conflicts experienced by the street sleepers.
GC: Yes, you’re right. This reminds me of a quote shown in the film before the story begins. Extracted from the book Dispossession by Judith Butler, it describes the conditions and dilemma as experienced by the homeless and the street-sleepers: it says ‘Such bodies both perform the conditions of life in public – sleeping and living there, taking care of the environment and each other – and exemplify relations of equality that are precisely those that are lacking in the economic and political domain’.
CC: This film is a voice for the underprivileged in society. Instead of enjoying the benefits from the process of modernization, they are forced to adapt so as to survive. In particular, we looked into how they adapted architecturally and created their own place, tangibly and intangibly, in the urban setting.
GC: What triggered me further for reflection is a recent update from the Urban Renewal Authority, URA. Have you ever heard of the study of redevelopment in Sham Shui Po by the URA, it entirely overlaps with the places of narrative in Drifting.
CC: Yes, I have heard of it. Well, as our urban landscape evolves, new buildings continue to rise and the old may inevitably be demolished. Yet, the balance between addressing the needs of the underprivileged and the pace of urban development shall always prevail.
GC: Right, and I feel like what you just said is a very good sum-up to wrap up our podcast today. Thank you all for listening!
CC: Thank you!
Gilbert Chiu (UID) and Chak Chung (UID)