We all make mistakes. You make them. Bill Clinton made one on a Gap dress. And I sat through mine last Saturday when my friend and I decided to watch the movie Chinese Box.
But the mistake was unintentional as we originally planned to watch Bounce Ko Gals, a supposedly excellent Japanese art film.
I mean, in all honesty, which would you have chosen to watch after reading the following synopses? Bounce Ko Gals: 'Disturbing story of three Japanese teenagers on a voyage of self-discovery as they work the streets of Tokyo's nightlife district. Directed by Masato Harada.' Chinese Box: 'Wayne Wang tells a story of passion and imperfect love between four people intertwined in Hong Kong. A dying English journalist decides to act on his love for a woman torn between two men, in a city torn between two nations.' Though I have never heard of Harada, I think I have a far greater interest in finding out what 'work the streets of Tokyo's nightlife district' means than what Wang has to say about Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, by the time my friend had made her way from Sha Tin to Yau Ma Tei, most of the tickets for the late-afternoon show were already sold, prompting us to think Bounce Ko Gals must be quite, er, 'arty' despite its IIB classification.
'Perhaps I should watch that film by myself later,' I told my friend before suggesting, perhaps too hastily, to watch something else.
Chinese Box, I thought, was a good alternative because: 1) it is about Hong Kong; 2) it stars Maggie Cheung Man-yuk; and 3) I was there when the crew were on location outside the Legislative Council on handover night and there was a slight chance I would be in the film, waving at the cameras.