Online Review: Enthralled 愛．尋．迷

Enthralled is a 2014 drama film written and directed by Chip Tso. The film stars Tien You Chui (Ka-lok), Christopher Goh (Adam), Kelvin Kwan (Shing), Candy Law (Linda) and Mandy Lieu (Julie).

As a drama film, Enthralled depends heavily on the plot, the emotional development of realistic characters and how the characters deal with the conflicts. 

Three pals, Ka-lok, Adam & Shing were separated when they were in primary school as there was a big wave of emigration in Hong Kong after June Fourth incident. 20 years later, they reunited in a bar as adults. 

Ka-lok, a college lecturer who’s desperately hoping to meet his long-lost father, and he’s in love with his student. Adam, a returned emigrant who’s working in an International banking institution, crazily falls for Julie, a wife of the chief executive candidate. Shing is the poorest among the three, with financial support from his ‘sugar mommy’ Linda, he opened a hair salon. And Shing soon screwed Linda’s son as well. As the story goes, Ka-lok committed suicide and Adam’s murdered by Julie’s husband, only Shing survived. 

Enthralled captures current issues in Hong Kong. For example, in terms of class division, Shing's story shows that Hong Kong is a playground for the rich only, the social mobility is very low and it’s impossible for employees to climb up the social ladder without salvation. As for moral dilemmas, Linda buys sex and Julie marries for power/ money, it represents that there is rare loyalty/ love between partners nowadays.

From another point of view, Enthralled is also stereotyping Hongkongers as immoral, materialistic, merciless, cunning and cruel people. No matter rich or poor, men or women, Hongkongers are just looking for hookups and money. No love, no trust in between.

Apart from the erotic scenes and the failed romance stories, the biggest selling point of ‘Enthralled’ is Chip Tsao (To Kit) since Tsao made his debut as a writer-director. Tsao is a renowned biting columnist/ writer /broadcaster who is famous for his sarcasm.
If you had read Tsao’s articles before, you can simply find his shadow everywhere in the film. The entire movie, from the first minute to the last minute, from the taxi driver to the bar tender, every single character is expressing dissatisfaction towards Hong Kong. For example, the taxi driver says that his English is better than high officials’ English. Also, the waiter says that foreigners appreciate Chinese tea (Red Robe) more than Hongkongers do, which is lampooning many Hongkongers have already forgotten their origins/ Chinese culture/ tradition. These lines, full of sarcasm, are so ‘To Kit’.

There is no denying the fact that Tsao is a talented writer, and yes, Tsao could be a good screenwriter, but he might not be a good filmmaker / movie director.

Interviewed by Jimmy Lai CheeYing, Tsao claimed that Enthralled would provide insights into social issues that are closely related to Hongkongers which could build up the collective framework. It’s too intense though. Squeezed with Chief Executive Election, property hegemony, press freedom, wealth inequality, sexual orientation discrimination, broken family, etc. ‘Enthralled’ touches on too many social and political issues that makes it challenging for audiences to ‘read’ it within 109mins.

As a newbie in the film industry, I think Tsao should have left the role of director to someone who is experienced and good at handling controversial films, such as Ann Hui.

Abundant social issues, inconsistent plot twists and questionable directing .It’s deep yet disappointing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Reference:

“I want to arouse the social conscience for sex and love.”. (2014, April 1). Retrieved from http://www.goethe.de/ins/cn/en/lp/kul/mag/dis/sex/12735002.htmlHKIFF: Enthralled By Chip

Tsao, Not His Film. (2014, March 30). Retrieved from http://www.movieswithbutter.com/blogs/hkiff-enthralled-chip-tsao-not-his-film-741506

KOZO. (2014, August 1). Enthralled. Retrieved from http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/enthralled.html
 
愛‧尋‧迷－陶傑變陣拍片 幫港人向壓力宣戰
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qdKt6rJsKc

581 words

Student Name: Chan Hoi Ying
Student ID: 10492239/ 21423816

Online Review: That Demon Within魔警 – The “Other Side” of Human

I believed that every Hong Kong citizens had been impressed on the bank robbery and murder that committed by Tsui Po-ko in 2006 till now. This movie which is showed in April 2014, was not just focusing on the crime that committed by Tsui, but also giving a fiction story about the process of Tsui becoming a murderer from a normal, in order to bring the story of some Hong Kong local values and traditional cultures like traditional funerary services, and the foul language in Hong Kong style.

This movie actually brings out the conflicts of Hong Kong identities. From 1841 to 1997, Hong Kong as a Crown Colony belonged to British. In 1997 the Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong actually made panic in Hong Kong citizen’s mind, because the identities of Hong Kong citizens have been blurred, till nowadays. Would Hong Kong still have the unique identity different to Chinese, or we have been influenced by Chinese government secretly and imperceptibly. The movie used many emotional scene of the leading character, Wong which is acted by Daniel Wu to show the conflict created by the pressure made by the identity confusion. The memory that Wong remembers the most in his childhood is the moment when his father got killed in an accident, and the Royal Hong Kong Police which acted by Niki Cheung Ka Fai, afterwards adopted Wong but then Wong set on fire in order to killed that police to revenge on his father’s death. When he grows up, he ironically became a Royal Hong Kong police also. Once he donated blood to the criminal who looks like the police that he killed in his childhood, he seems to have hallucination and cannot recognize what is real and what is hallucination.

According to the national allegory, this fiction story just as a mean of expressing a dimension of existence rather than only characters. In order to show the conflict that nowadays Hong Kong society is facing that is the disorder of the society and the conflicts of our self-identities. The director of this film also using many distort scenes to represent the kind of invisible violence and pressure fighting against the power in order to resist from the regime. Therefore it is very common to see the violence behaviors always an eye for an eye. Also the situation of nervous breakdown of Wong in this movie represent he cannot face up to the identities change just like nowadays Hong Kong, there are still many controversy on the identity of Hong Kong people and too many conflicts between Chinese and Hong Kong people, like Occupy Central with Love and Peace happened in 2014. This movie is not merely an action movie or telling a suspense story to terrify audiences, but there is something more considerable deep inside this movie that the director want us to notice and showing us how the director thinking about the Hong Kong society and the change of the identity of Hong Kong citizens.


Student Name: Chow Man Shan
Student ID: 21426593

(500 words)

Online review:Sara

Sara : stop being victim

Sara is a Cantonese Sexual-Erotic film directed by Herman Yau and starring Charlene Choi and Simon Yam in 2015. Focus on the story of how Sara struggled and survive to reflect the reality of the cause of gender inequality.

Director make use of the scene that Sara was raped by her step-father as a beginning, to portal and lead the viewer to the main theme of this movie, gender relationship. Directors take advantage of this as a begging, to establish the unbalanced relationship of actor and actress, in order to justifier and reinforce the impression of Sara and her background.

On the hold, Herman Yau attempt to use different direction to explain the fact that women are suffering a gender inequality in this society, that kind of unbalance is a systemized, implied and justified. Sara and her mother and the other charter Dok-my, have to give in that in the stage they have to deal with the reality to someone. The value and tradition causing they have to sacrifice and obey the one signifier as a dominant male (Sara step-father, Kam Ho-yin and the procuring in Thai.)

Patriarchy paradox in today society

The storyline of this film, Sara are the one tried to escape the patriarchy paradox. She change the game by playing the game, she received benefit in exchange her body to Kam.

Sara is signifier of modern woman in story that in this film, she has a better approach than her mother in term of dealing patriarchy system. What is more, she attempt to saving the girl which trap in horrible situation, Dok-my. It show what the director see the generation changing occur. It is easy to see that Sara, as a victim of abuse, that wanted to rescue other, in some level. This is indirect way to describe she are regret and hate the relationship between her and Simon. In other level, what she had do is shows the psychological phenomenon of modern women in society.

This film has indirect point to the dilemma of patriarchy in today society as well as other film mention about. People as an individual that suppose to be free and not being slave by any other, but somehow Sara was witness of abuse. Her stepfather dominate her family, Simon dominate her private life. In this kind of situation, director use the approach to show that the victim are not only the women herself but also man are suffer when gender inequality involved. Her stepfather lives in a family that full of lie and distance, he can’t receive forgiveness from Sara. Sara’s boyfriend can not enjoy a real relationship due to Sara past. Simon always have to worry the relationship would espouse to public. It seems to me that no one is happy and all of them become a loser and it is one of the main ideas on this film.

Social mobility, the way to get rid of misfortune

Director use education as a turning point to develop the personality of Sara in this film.  As the story develop, Sara use her body in order to exchange a decent school, chance to get rid of the fate to become a individual with a well educated background.

This is not a film that told people not to do sex trade, but do it smartly and voluntarily. What is all about to Sara is power, the power that not to obey or being submissive. If Sara follows her mother step, give in to her stepfather, she probably end up her life with regret and self destruct.

In the film, the social contract between Sara and Simon deal are very clear, they are both equal in this relationship. Simon promises her that she can get into school, in exchange of the time of sex in a month. Actually, she had reject having sex with Simon when he come to her apartment which is not part of the deal.

This kind of relationship courage Sara she is an individual with dignity. This is a huge different for Sara that have sex with her stepfather and Simon. She can make her decision by her own which lead to the main theme of this movie.

 Choi lap him 10492456

(698 words)

 reference:

《雛妓》瑕不掩瑜. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2015, from

http://www.pentoy.hk/%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96/k89/2015/03/16/%E3%80%8A%E9%9B%9B%E5%A6%93%E3%80%8B%E7%91%95%E4%B8%8D%E6%8E%A9%E7%91%9C/

《雛妓》－從邊緣看香港. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2015, from

http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1030418