the plight of hk cinema, in my humble opinion

last night I watched "after this our exile...", starring aaron kwok and the cutest asian kid in the world. this film won the equivalent of a Best Picture Oscar in Hong Kong cinema, so I figured it should be quite good. It's really quite a beautiful film about desperation, loss, and selfishness...and the setting (which is never made clear, but seems to be rural Malaysia?) is impeccably gorgeous. After being underwhelmed by the film however, I got to thinking a bit about Hong Kong cinema in general. For me, one of the great weaknesses in HK Cinema is its inability to stay focused and deliver on the emotional investment that it lures its audience to make. in the case of this film, I simply felt that characterization never went deep enough for me to fully care...I'm saddened by the characters' cirucmstances and yet...I'm not all that moved because the film didn't really let me know who they were and why they made the choices that they did.

I know that I'm overgeneralizing here about HK Cinema, but seriously...lack of focus and characterization is too prevalent. I have too often watched a HK film and thought: "um...why did they even leave this scene in there? WHO IS EDITING THIS THING?"...

Every now and then however, a film pops up that totally surprises you though - lost in time comes to mind...which is probably one of the best romantic dramas ever made in HK (I concur with the reviewer)...golden chicken also comes to mind, which will make you laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. these movies keep me returning to new HK Cinema, as they are exemplary of the creative innovation that still exists in the industry (other than just popping out "Twins" fare, grotesque comedies, and hard core mafia films).

p.s by the way, aaron kwok did win the award for "best actor" for the movie!