-Some thought about hk culture and film
Witnessing the drastic change of Hong Kong, a familiar but unfamiliar city that has profound colonial history and important international status, it seems Hongkongers could never solve their chronic identity problem. The uncertainty and worry have been vividly displayed in our culture, including our films. Behind the stories of each film are the documentary that recorded people’s complex feelings of optimism, pessimism; joyfulness and desperation, regarding the future issue of our beloved hometown. However, gone are the days in the 80s when our film industry was flourish and diversify. Hong Kong movies in the past decade have been sharply characterised by crime film and the ‘Chinese New Year comedy film’, film genres are becoming homogeneous to cater to the taste of the bigger market. Despite the fact that there is nothing wrong for a business, preserving the uniqueness of our films, like we what do to our old buildings, means so much for preserving our own culture.
Shan Law 3035566352
I appreciate your critical take on Hong Kong’s film culture nowadays. Nonetheless, I would encourage you to take a less pessimistic view to frame Hong Kong’s film. As Abbas’ mentioned, the way Hong Kong is narrated (e.g. East meets West) overly simplifies our history. In fact, Hong Kong films nowadays, despite having a number of Lunar New Year films and crime movies, also include some that narrate minorities in the city like I’m livin’ it (2020), Still Human (2019), My Prince Edward (2020)… to name but a few. I would love to see how you could write about the bigger picture of the film industry in this city while still having a stance.