🇭🇰 What to Watch: a Hong Kong edition
Picks from Johnnie To, Ann Hui, and of course Wong Kar-wai
Erratum: a draft version of this email was sent by mistake due to a Substack error. If you’ve received two emails, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. This one is the complete Friday edition of The Watch.
Dear friends,
As the last freedoms get taken away from Hong Kong journalists, the same is happening for filmmakers. A new film censorship was announced earlier this month to “prevent and suppress acts that do not uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China” (BBC). It carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Today’s issue is a small sample of the thriving film culture in Hong Kong, not necessarily of protest film, but of the variety of what’s under threat.
OUR TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Exiled
New on Amazon Prime 🍅 rating: 80%
Acclaimed director Johnnie To and many stars from the hit series Infernal Affairs reunite for this stylish action drama about a gangster who leads a quiet life but whose murder is suddenly ordered.
When two hitmen arrive to take him out, they discover a second pair of mobsters assigned to protect him. All five men being childhood friends, they end up sharing a meal before deciding where their loyalties lie.
A great score, a gorgeous setting in 90s Macau, and great action sequences make Exiled the perfect summer night thriller.
📰 Matt Zoller Seitz of the New York Times: “This tale of childhood buddies turned hit men is the kind of film where flames roar, waves crash and dropped bullets thud like bowling balls.”
OUR TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
Hong Kong West Side Stories
On Netflix. 🍅 rating: - unavailable
This easy comedy series is a collection of stories that satirize superficiality in society. "The most profitable job in Hong Kong is to con dumb-asses," two friends realize, so one of them becomes a “pet telepathist”.
Often, however, the thin line between superficial and distasteful or wrong gets blurred - such as in the first episode, where the pet telepathist exploits a client’s grief to sleep with them.
Still, the stories are independent and sometimes span two episodes, with the sharpest probably being the last two (Bunk Beds) - where two brothers, both married, share bunk beds — an existence caused by Hong Kong’s real estate crisis and which comes with its unique challenges.
Not yet reviewed.
TOP PICKS OUTSIDE OF NETFLIX AND AMAZON PRIME
Happy Together
On HBO MAX 🍅 rating: 81%
Wong Kar-wai (In The Mood for Love) made this gorgeous portrait of two men who move from Hong Kong to Argentina around the time of the UK-China handover of Hong Kong in 1997. The result is “pure Wong Kar-Wai, which is equal parts longing, regret, and pathetic beauty.” (lovehkfilm)
TOP PICKS OUTSIDE OF NETFLIX AND AMAZON PRIME
A Simple Life
On Mubi 🍅 rating: 94%
Often hailed as director Ann Hui’s best work, this lovely drama is about a film producer who takes care of his family’s lifelong maidservant after she suffers a stroke.
That’s it for this week, I hope there’s something in there for you.
The next edition of this weekly letter will be in your inbox Friday, July 2nd.
Until then,
Bilal