[Field Report] Johnny English Reborn (2011)

Transcript:

#Introduction

[Georgy] Hi, everyone. Hi. My name is Georgy Valencio and I’m Ian Anthony Wijono. Here today, we’re going to discuss and review about the Johnny English Reborn film. We’re going to discuss about the architectural style, especially in the Hong Kong area, which is the buildings and the style and stuff. We’re going to compare what is the difference between the style in the film and which is produced in the 2011 and how is the condition in reality right now, we also going to discuss the function or purpose why the producer choose that place for the scene in Johnny English Reborn.

#Lisboa

[Georgy] Maybe we can start from the first scene. It is located in Lisboa, Grand Lisboa or Casino Lisboa. It is actually located in Macau. But interestingly, in the film, it is stated that it is included in the area of Hong Kong. So we’re still going to discuss about it. Maybe you can talk further about Lisboa.

[Ian] So the Lisboa actually has two buildings. The first one is the Lisboa Casino, which is just only the casino, and the other one is a hotel, Grand Lisboa, which is a hotel, but also has a casino in it. So the first one is the Lisboa Casino. In the movie, it has neon but pale colors and in reality, the neon are more colorful. In the movie it has dark green walls, but now I think it is replaced by white marbles, so it gives a more elegant futuristic vibe and it makes it look like a castle. It is also renovated to have larger entrance and it makes it really looks more fancy and rich.

[Georgy] It is very suitable because the casino is where rich or important Chinese people usually meet. So moving on to the Hotel Grand Lisboa, talking about the architectural style in the exterior, it actually has exactly the same style as in right now. In reality, right now. Because even like the triangular shape of the wall and the LED board, the placement of the stuff as well is exactly the same as in right now. For the interior design, sadly, we cannot compare from the film and the condition right now because even both of ourselves cannot enter because we are still under 21. But we notice in the movie, the agent, the character agent, which is still under 21, can enter the casino. It is mainly due to in the film, there are no security checkpoints placed there. But in reality, right now, there are a lot of security placed in front of the entrance, the front door, to prevent anybody under 21 enter the casino. So it is very good thing.

[Ian] I really like how the director chooses to shoot the movie because in the casino, of course, in the movie we can see that everyone focus on their own game and don’t really care about what happened anywhere else. This makes it a great place for the director to have bad antagonist characters disguise themselves to do an assassination. In the movie, even after their target was killed, no one around the target actually noticed. They’re so funny. Everyone still focus on gambling. Only the Johnny English notice.

#Kowloon Paradise (Chungking Mansion)

[Ian] The next scene takes place in Kowloon Paradise Eight Hotel, which we usually know as the legendary Chungking Mansion.

[Georgy] Ow, legendary Chungking Mansion, and more for the details of the Chungking Mansion, it is actually a compact residential place in which so many people live there. This is a very suitable place and this is a very perfect place chosen by the producer because it can create a very intense chasing scene. Why? Because the place is very small and tight. The hallway is very tight. So when people chase someone, they need to do like a zigzag run, they need to climb the walls, they can do parkour and stuff. So it creates a very intense chasing scene. It’s very cool. As you know, because this is a residential place, so the producer can slip in an antagonist character that disguise as a cleaning lady. I mean, this is very cool because the character can blend in very well because no one really noticed the cleaning lady. It is very common in Hong Kong to have cleaning ready. Because of the unique building architectural style, which, for example, the windows are facing each other, like this room and the windows from this room can face each other. So the antagonist that I mentioned before, the cleaning lady can shoot from one room to another room in the same hotel. So, I mean, it is one of the architectural style in Hong Kong buildings.

#Rooftop

[Ian] While you were mentioning Parkour, I happen to remember the next scene which takes place in the rooftop. You can see that most rooftop in Hong Kong are actually flat surface that people can use to dry their clothes or food boxes and maybe other unused things. In the chasing scene, these items and even the clothes act as obstacles. So it really makes the scene more intense. And in the end of the chasing scene, you can see bamboo support attached the building. These bamboo supports are actually quite common in Hong Kong. It is so strong, cheap and flexible that people use it to clean buildings or maybe repair them or maybe in the construction process.

#Bamboo support

[Georgy] The bamboo support is very iconic in Hong Kong because even until now, there are still a lot of buildings using the bamboo support for maybe like for the building, repairing, or cleaning purposes. But as you know, alongside the rooftop scene, we can also see so many high rise buildings in the back view, in the scenery, because Hong Kong has a very limited space, but a high population. So that is why there are a lot of high rise buildings to support the population in Hong Kong. Back to the bamboo support, in reality, right now, the condition I think in Chungking Mansion, there are no more bamboo support stay. Maybe it is because the construction has been finished or for the repairing and cleaning purposes has been replaced by a more advanced technology. So no more bamboo support is needed, maybe in the Chungking Mansion, but in the other part in Hong Kong, many buildings still use the bamboo support. So it is very iconic.

#Hou Fai Road Garden

[Georgy] Moving on to the chasing scene, the character moved to a new place called Hou Fai Road Garden, in which it connects to the dockside or harbor in Hong Kong. Some facts of the Hou Fai Road Garden, it has a yellow tiles. In the film, it has a yellow tiles and then there’s like a metal fence. The condition right now is still exactly the same again. So it still have the same yellow tiles with the same pattern, also the fence has still the same condition. No rust in it. They care about the fence is very good.

#Harbor

[Ian] Yes, I think public facing in Hong Kong is really treated well. It is very interesting because the movie was released on 2011, but it has been more than ten years now and the condition is exactly the same, and still good. So more about the harbor, Hong Kong has a really huge harbor and actually one of the largest port in the world, which make the next scene possible. The ship chasing another ship here. The scene involves a ship chasing another ship. It is possible here because the harbor is so big, unlike any other harbors, that the ship can maneuver. We can see during the scene there are many access of other ships, including tankers. Usually this kind of scene takes place in the open sea, but in this specific movie, it takes place inside the harbor area. The scene really captures our heart and it creates a more thrilled feeling for the viewer.

#Conclusion

[Georgy] Maybe it is all the architectural style that we can found in the film that is in the area of Hong Kong. It is very cool. It shows a very iconic and it shows many good place, many interesting place in Hong Kong and we can really compare the style in the film. Right now, many style is still the same and it’s still in good condition.

[Ian] It’s very interesting to visit those places and see the place that take in the movie, in Johnny English Reborn.

[Georgy] So maybe that is all of our review and discussion of the Johnny English Reborn of the architectural style. I hope you can enjoy. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for listening. Bye bye!

 

Georgy Valencio, Siswanta – 3035898896

Ian Anthony, Wijono – 3035898963

(other pics included in the video)