Ann Hui was born to a Japanese mother and a Chinese father in Northeastern China in 1947, and settled in Hong Kong with her family when she was 5. After graduating in English and Comparative Literature from Hong Kong University, she studied for two years at the London Film School before returning to Hong Kong to work for King Hu, as an assistant director. Following this, she joined the broadcaster TVB where she directed dramas and documentaries before making her feature debut with “The Secret”, a film which established her as one of the leaders of Hong Kong's New Wave movement. Her career since then has included adaptations of literary works, family dramas, martial arts movies, and supernatural tales with notable award-winners like “Boat People”, “Summer Snow”, “A Simple Life” and “Our Time Will Come”. Hui was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice International Film Festival 2020 where her latest film, “Love After Love” was screened.
Above all, however, Ann Hui is a great individual, cherished by both associates and friends for her character. The fact becomes quite evident in the documentary through the appearances and comments of so many people, including names like Hou Hsiao-hsen, Jia Zhangke, Tsui Hark, Andy Lau, Fruit Chan, Mark Lee, Sylvia Chang etc, all of which have something positive to say for both the filmmakers and the human being.
Man Lim-chung, a veteran art director and costume designer who has cooperated with Hui on a numbers of films, does his movie debut here, with a documentary that highlights all the aforementioned aspects in a maximalist, extremely thorough, but also very sensitive approach.
The aforementioned maximalism derives from the uncanny amount of different cinematic mediums included in the documentary. In that fashion, the movie includes scenes from her everyday life, her interactions with colleagues and her family, her experiences while shooting movies, and a number of interviews, both with her and her various friends and collaborators. Additionally, there is also rich archival footage content, including photos from when she was a child to this day, clips from iconic moments of her films, and videos from various shoots and from the plethora of awards she had won, in a mix that concludes the documentary in the best way, as it also highlights the fact that her career has spanned for more than four decades.
Through all the aforementioned elements, Man Lim-chung highlights both the person and her work, essentially revealing how interconnected those two hypostases are, since a number of her movies are filled with autobiographical elements. Particularly the “revealing” that her mother is Japanese and had to hide the fact due to the intense anti-Japanese sentiments that permeated the whole environment of the family including Hui, comes across as rather shocking, even more so since the director did not realize the fact until she was 16 years old.
At the same time, Man does not shy away from asking the tough questions, regarding her failures at the box office, that she never got married (that she is married to her work if you prefer) her difficult relationship with her mother, her constant smoking, the pressure of PR campaigns, and getting old in general. However, here is where another remarkable aspect of Hui's character comes to the fore, since she does not shy away from replying and analyzing everything, always eager to share funny anecdotes and laugh about her own life, including the sad moments. Her laughter is essentially the soundtrack of the movie, and Man has captured its impact perfectly, highlighting an individual who is (or at least seems very much so) very happy.
The editing of the film also emerges as one of its best assets, with the connection of the various elements of the narrative being ideal, and with a rather fast pace that allowed Man to portray them in all their glory. The cinematography follows the “rules” of documentary filmmaking and at the same time, succeeds in making Hong Kong also one of the protagonists.
“Keep Rolling” is the perfect portrait of a remarkable person and a truly great movie. The only thing I found missing, is the presence of Roger Lee, her long-time producer, who only appears in the background for a very brief time.