26th Hong Kong International
Film Festival 2002
by Alison Jobling
Episode 0: What Else I Did On My Holidays
Okay, consider me feeling quite abashed at being so late, given that
the HKIFF was in March-April and all. But ne'er mind, here is the first
installment. And I thought I'd start with some teasers.
First up, for anyone who doesn't know, I was lucky enough to weasel my
way into a private dinner with Johnnie To, director of various funky films
and boss of Milkyway
Image. Given the frisson I get whenever that cool logo sizzles its way
across the screen, signalling the onset of another fine snippet of cinema,
you can imagine how chuffed I was. And I somehow managed to be seated next
to Da Man, who chainsmoked his way through a truly great dinner of epic
proportions (I somehow managed to restrain myself from trying to bum a
smoke from him, but it was a close thing).
And I have to tell you that JT is a captivating man: he's very
passionate about his work, and wants to keep improving and stretching his
skills. He also takes care to surround himself with very smart people,
such as the 3 who accompanied him that evening. His plan is to make them
the second or third generation of Milkyway filmmakers (although Yau Nei
Hoi, the scriptwriter, is already in there, having written the script of The
Mission).
I even had a lasting souvenir from the evening: I chipped a tooth
eating crab. Rather appropriate, I thought, given one of his recent
movies (FYI I'm talking about Love On A Diet, where Andy Lau Tak
Wah claims to have chipped his tooth eating crab). Ha ha. I referred to it
as "My Johnnie To tooth", at least until I had it fixed.
I had one tricky moment, that I'd like to share with you (in the
interest of you-all maybe getting a laugh out of my embarrassment).
Towards the end of the evening, after many courses of extremely scrummy
food and much fine (Australian) wine, everyone got very talkative, and I
made some undoubtedly fatuous comment about artistic integrity and using
his talent, and he turned to me and said, in a rather doubtful voice,
"Am I talented?"
To which, gentle reader, I believe I responded with an inarticulate
gurgle, which was a pity, because what was in my head was along these
lines: "Is Johnnie To talented? Undoubtedly! You just have to look at
The Mission: a superb piece of cinema, which I can't find
sufficient adjectives to describe (especially after that amount of red
wine). Even the light fluffy commercial movies are made with panache and a
fine attention to detail, while the exceptional works show a clarity of
vision rarely found. And of course one can't win a sackful of awards at
film festivals around the world by being a talentless hack."
In other news, I also managed to get to the Anita Mui Fantasy Gig
concert, which was a bit of a thrill for me. It was in the Coliseum, which
I'd seen in some concert DVDs, and which feels rather like being inside
the spaceship from Close Encounters: hovering above the ground, and
strangely lit. The concert was a hoot, and Anita was in fine form.
