Thessaloniki Cinematheque pays tribute to one of the most expressive representatives of the New Wave of Hong Kong, Fruit Chan. The tribute, titled “Fruit Chan: The Unbearable Lightness of Everyday Life” will take place Sunday, October 11 to Wednesday October 14, at Pavlos Zannas screening room in Olympion (Aristotelous 10, 2310-378404) and will be free of admission
Hong Kong cinema is featured for the sixth time in Thessaloniki, through the cooperation of Thessaloniki Film Festival with Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels
The tribute will include four of the most characteristic movies of Fruit Chan, namely Made in Hong Kong (1997), Little Cheung (1999), Dumplings (2004) και The Midnight After (2014).
Made in Hong Kong (Sunday 11/10 at 21.00)
Fruit Chan directs and pens a film that begins as an effort to portray, realistically, the lives of delinquents and small time triad members, but is soon swamped in a permeating nihilism which induces it with a punk essence that seems to fit its visual style to perfection. In that setting, almost everybody is a victim, with the fact presented quite eloquently in the film’s finale. However, this does not mean that Chan allows us to feel sorry for the characters, apart from very few exceptions, since everyone is filled with faults and willing to go to extremes to achieve his goals. At the same time, Chan seems to put the blame for the faults of the new generations to the previous one, who do not seem to know what to do with their children, thus abandoning them.
Little Cheung (Monday 12/10 at 21.00)
Not many movies have taken the responsibility to tangle the political relationship between China and Hong Kong. “Little Cheung” deals with the looming overtake from China in a subtly way. The social dichotomies, the topic of immigration, and the pure capitalism that spreads across the city are ultimately tied to political aspects. Fruit Chan enters a touchy territory and risks a ban in Mainland China, which is still one of the biggest audiences for Hong Kong Cinema. In the early and late 90s, the Hong Kong cinema seemed to be more independent than nowadays. Films like “From Beijing with Love” (1994) or the more recent “Election” (2005) are two of the rare examples who question the autocracy of China. Fruit Chan’s trilogy is, therefore, a full-on tackle. But instead of hitting hard, the story remains filled with sensibility due to its innocent lead roles.
Dumplings (Tuesday 13/10 at 21.30)
Known for his predilection for depicting the dark sides of social reality, in “Dumplings”, Chan departs from his conventional, documentary-like approach to thorny issues in reconciling his dark, gruesome realism with Christopher Doyle’s visually exuberant cinematography. Doyle, as always, is unsparing in his use of lustrous colors and sweeping camerawork, and in the end what he and Chan collaboratively render is a beautiful blend of pathos, dark humor, and internal horror.
The Midnight After (Wednesday 14/10 at 21.00)
Regarding the context however, the film seems to deal with the collapse of the values of society and the concept of being Hong Kongese in cultural terms, amidst all the influences coming from the West. In order to present this rather pessimistic comment about the future of the country, Chan used a number of characters of different ages, professions, financial and social status, all of which, however, seem to go nowhere, at least until the point they decide to unite, in a way. The comment about still being animals is another one, mostly represented through the Lavina-Airplane-Glu-Stick arc, which is the most violent in the film , while its conclusion reminded me much of Park Chan-wook’s “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” .
The festival will be co-curated by Panos Kotzathanasis
For additional info, check the following link:
