At the End of Daybreak
Starring: Chui Tin-yau, Wai Ying-hung, Jane Ng Meng-hui Director: Ho Yuhang Category: IIB (Cantonese, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia)
Despite a plot that on paper reads like a noir thriller, there is little that is noirish or thrilling about this tragic tale of misguided youth.
Malaysian director-writer Ho Yuhang has other goals in relating an affair gone wrong, solidly rooted in its Southeast Asian milieu and providing glimpses of the complex psyches of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Ho has a unique point of view and a fluid grasp of cinematic technique, but narrative lapses radically reduce the material's potential impact.
Ho is at his best when etching an intricate portrait of the deceptively tranquil Malaysian locale. The problems and attitudes of the multilingual Cantonese characters will strike a familiar chord with Hongkongers despite the foreignness of the setting. Living conditions are not cramped and the physical environment is lush, but kids are still kids, sex is still sex, and the disparity between rich and poor continues to play a role in social intercourse.
So it is with 23-year-old Tuck Chai (Chui Tin-yau) and his relationship with 15-year-old Ying (Jane Ng Meng-hui). The former is the product of a broken home headed by an alcoholic but caring mother (Wai Ying-hung, above right with Chui) decidedly on a lower rung of the social ladder. His girlfriend is solidly middle class, attending a good school and engaging in such conventional extracurricular activities as piano lessons. In her prim uniform, she hardly appears the type to shoplift or take birth control pills, and all hell breaks loose when her parents find out otherwise.
One of the film's most interesting aspects is the manner in which Ho subtly manipulates our feelings towards the protagonists so that they shift from aversion to sympathy and vice versa.
The director paints an emotionally impressionistic picture that is alternately intense and aloof as Tuck Chai, Ying, and their pals navigate the shoals of school, family and life. As indicated by the Chinese title, Sham Moh, there are devils in everyone's heart, and while some secondary personages are one-dimensional, the major characters contain variegated shades of grey that reveal both virtues and flaws.
The mood abruptly changes more than halfway through the 90-minute drama when events take an ominous turn. The direction of the actors at this critical juncture misses the mark, with some of the more volatile reactions coming across as unmotivated. The filmmaker's choices as to what to include and exclude from the chronicle ultimately infuse the film with an unnecessary detachment compounded by a vague denouement that keeps At the End of Daybreak stuck in thematic twilight.
At the End of Daybreak closes the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival tomorrow, 7.30pm, at Palace IFC, and is on general release from Nov 5
