Hong Kong Cinema has few successful female directors, but one of the best known and most respected filmmakers to come out of the Hong Kong new wave is Ann Hui.
While often dipping into genre films, Ann Hui is best known for her intimate dramas that deal with the displacement of characters across borders and conflicting values within families. Film writer Lawrence Chua describes her work as “cunningly metaphoric”. Last year Ann Hui was named Asian Filmmaker Of The Year at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival.
OzAsia Film Curator Glenys Rowe has 5 Ann Hui hit picks from the festival – these are the ones she specially recommends:
A Simple Life
Monday 28 September at 7pmSometimes we surprise ourselves. A well- to-do handsome young man, (played by the very popular pop-singery actor Andy Lau), takes the elderly, now retired family servant under his wing, in a role, class and expectation reversal of the highest order. Their relationship surprises and delights them both and in this case, also the audience!
Eighteen Springs
Thursday 1 October at 7pmOh the ill-fated romance of it all! A film for the young and the young at heart, 'Eighteen Springs' is based on the novel by influential Chinese writer, Eileen Chang. Set in 1930s Shangnhai, it's the story of a romance born to fail. Visually lush, this gorgeous film has rarely been seen in the west and is a must for film lovers. There is a very different, and arguably, female perspective at play.
Love In A Fallen City
Friday 2 October at 7pmStarring Chow Yun Fat ('Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon') 'Love In A Fallen City' was Ann Hui’s first commercial film. Based on another Eileen Chang novel, it’s a romantic saga, full of delicious love and longing. It’s also a sensitive exploration of how people’s lives can be dramatically and irrevocably changed during wartime.
My American Grandson
Saturday October 3 at 7pm"What’s the matter with kids today?” goes the corny old song but imagine the question magnified a thousand times. When the kid in question is your American-born grandson, whose manner of being brought up is simply unintelligible to you. Whose manners, dress and speech is alien. And in trying to build a relationship with him, you find yourself stuck in the middle of a clash of cultures so extreme, and a generation gap worsening every day by the clash of western versus eastern values, relief is at hand! Ann Hui suggests a way through. A compelling film for all ages, but with special resonance for grandparents!
The Golden Era
Sunday 4 October at 3pmWinner of Best Film at the Hong Kong International Film Festival 2015, The Golden Era is a magnificent portrait of Chinese essayist and novelist Xiao Hong while simultaneously describing China in the tumultuous 1903s. An elegant history lesson disguised as a thoroughly compelling movie.
