Starring: Sean Li Ka-hoe, Osman Hung Chi-kit, Jackie Chow, Candy Hau Woon-ling
Director: Scud
Category: III (Cantonese)
Egocentric in the extreme, Scud's Permanent Residence is a bold and revelatory, if uneven, semi-autobiographical portrayal of a man's search for creative expression and quest for love. In tracing the life of its protagonist from his birth in the late 1960s until his death some eight decades later, Permanent Residence takes the concept of 'art imitating life' one step further by blurring the line between the two.
The narrative covers a lot of territory, both geographically and temporally. The pre-title sequence in Guangdong is nostalgically shot in black-and-white, not only introducing us to the infant Ivan but also making us aware of his mortality (a fortune-teller predicts he will not live beyond 30) and the pivotal influence of his beloved granny (the indefatigable Candy Hau Woon-ling). The black-and-white turns into desaturated colour as Ivan moves to Hong Kong and has a nerdy 1980s adolescence.
Full colour, both in Herman Yau Lai-to's vivid cinematography and Ivan's life in general, only comes with the 1990s. Now a twentysomething IT success, Ivan (Sean Li Ka-hoe, far right) is an avid gym-goer not averse to exhibiting the results of his hard work. If City Without Baseball broke new ground with its unabashed delight in displaying male flesh, Permanent Residence takes it one step further and minus the earlier work's demureness toward same-sex attraction.