[FIELDWORK] A Moment of Romance, St. Margaret’s Church

A Moment of Romance, DIR. Benny Chan(1970) A Moment of Romance (天若有情) is a Hong Kong action romance film. This film was directed by Benny Chan and starred Andy Lau, Jacklyn Wu, and Ng Man-tat. It told a romantic story that an underworld rag and a rich heiress fell in love with each other, just like a Hong Kong version of “Romeo and Juliet” Wah Dee (Andy Lau), a young triad gangster, hijacked a girl named Jo Jo (Jacklyn Wu) in a jewelry store robbery. After this accident, they then experienced a range of incidents. Eventually, they were in love

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[FIELDWORK] TEN YEARS – EXTRAS, CLASSROOMS

Ten Years 十年 – Extras 浮瓜 (Kwok Zune, 2015) Ten Years is an anthology film composed totally five films. The story’s background is set in the year 2025 and mainly discusses the autonomy of Hong Kong from the aspects of culture, human rights, and politics. The film I chose is “Extras”, directed by Kwok Zune. The story takes place in a school building while the plot is about the government officials creating a planned assassination on two leaders of political organizations in order to arouse the public’s panic so that the National Security Law can be easily legislated. There are two

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[Reading Response] Joseph Rosa

In this week’s reading, we learned that the modern architecture is often regarded as cold and more related to bad things such as crimes in the movies, while the traditional style of houses are more considered as warm and closer to people’s heart. For example, in the movie L.A. Confidential, the female character’s true bedroom is  decorated in traditional style, which shows that this is the way of decorations that could make her feel warm and safe while the other area decorated in more urban style is not what she values. However, this kind of stereo type is not always

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[Reading Response] Joseph Rosa

Personally, I have never paid much attention towards how the architectural style of buildings in films have a direct linkage towards the ambitions and personality of the associated character. In the text, Rosa illustrates that throughout the years, films have often depicted modernist residential architecture to associate with antagonistic characters, representing a rather derogatory connotation to the building. On the other hand, traditional homes are represented to express feelings of comfort, warmth and positivity. This directly highlights how the American public first witness the rise of Modernism, in which critics and conservatives view these rigid and scientifically complex structures as

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[FIELDWORK] Echoes of the Rainbow, Wing Lee Street

Echoes of the Rainbow [Dir/Scr: Alex Law] (2010) In the search for a distinct post-colonial identity, Hong Kong-ers, imbued with nostalgia, turn to architectural phenomena that showcase the transient journeys of their city from a bygone era. Amongst the ever-changing high skyline, fleeting moments are littered throughout the city, anachronistic cracks that show Hong Kong’s rich past and journey from a fishing village to an urban idyll. A genre-based on this premise, “Nostalgia Cinema” has been prominent in the Hong Kong film scene since the 90s. A paradigmatic example is ‘Echoes of Rainbow,’ a winsome, elegiac tale of a family

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[FIELDWORK] THE LAST EMPEROR, THE FORBIDDEN CITY

THE LAST EMPEROR, DIR. BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI (1987)            The Forbidden City, Dongcheng District, Beijing Pu Yi and his brother were running at the Tianhedian Square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony while a long line of eunuchs and attendants was chasing after them for protection. Scenes from The Last Emperor 1987, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The Last Emperor is a historical epic film recording the whole life of Aisin Juero Pu Yi, who was the last imperial ruler of China. It has two timelines in the form of half flashbacks and half inserts to

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[FIELDWORK]IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, Central Street, Hong Kong

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, DIR.Wong Kar Wai (2000) Central Street, Hong Kong; Angkor Wat, Cambodia Wong Kar Wai’s 2000 film “In the mood for love” is a love-themed film about two couples who become neighbors. The story is about two couples who become neighbors after their respective lovers cheat on them, making them meet and eventually produce a missed, unattainable love. The film was shot and edited in a collage of corridors, streets, corners and other fragmented spaces in Central and Sheung Wan in Hong Kong and Bangkok in Southeast Asia. As a result, the film is not very

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[FIELD WORK] PARASITE, SEOUL

PARASITE, DIR. BONG JOON HO (2019) Seoul, South Korea Parasite, directed by Bong Joon Ho, was released in May 2019. Parasite shows the greed of human beings and social status disparity in the form of wicked and brutal human behavior, focusing on two families living in extremes. Since the characteristic of the Parasite itself has a symbiotic relationship with the human, the movie parasite depicts this parasite relationship between the affluent Park family and the destitute Kim family. Poor Kim family infiltrates the lives of a wealthy Park family as their new employers such as tutor, driver, and helper by

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[FIELDWORK] MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, BANK OF CHINA TOWER/ XITANG

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, DIR. J. J. Abrams (2006)  The Shanghai Bank of China Tower/ Xitang, Shanghai Paramount Pictures released Mission: Impossible III in May 2006 in the United States. It is the third installment in the Mission: Impossible film franchise. The movies are based on an imagery organization called IMF (Impossible Mission Force), which sends its agent to save the world from villains. The protagonist is Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise), one of the IMF agents. At the end of the previous movie, Hunt ‘has retired from the field work’ and became a coach of the new recruits. The

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[FIELDWORK]Young and Dangerous, Wan Chai

Young and Dangerous, DIR. Andrew Lau(1996)   The plot of the story is that Andy Chan was rescued by Bee when he was bullied by Kwan as a child, and then Andy Chan followed Bee. Ten years later, Andy Chan became Bee’s right-hand man. Andy Chan had a deeper feud with Kwan, and then was calculated by Kwan to cause the death of a friend and broke up with a friend who later went to Taiwan. Andy Chan was then scalded in accordance with Hong Hing(洪興社)’s rules and then kicked out of Hong Hing(洪興社) to run a bar in Saigon

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