Echoes of the Rainbow
Starring: Buzz Chung Shiu-to, Aarif Lee Chi-ting, Simon Yam Tat-wah, Sandra Ng Kwan-yue Director: Alex Law Kai-yui Category: IIA (Cantonese)
Although heavily nostalgic in nature, the latest collaboration between Alex Law Kai-yui (here credited as writer-director) and Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting (producer) reverberates with Hongkongers' hunger for collective memory.
Set over four decades ago, this bittersweet look at a charmed - if materially meagre childhood - is strikingly contemporary in its ability to relate to an issue very much in recent headlines as rapacious developers and an acquiescent government destroy surviving echoes of what gave mid-20th-century Hong Kong its distinctive flavour.
The manner in which Echoes of the Rainbow recreates 1960s Hong Kong is precisely what gives this feature a distinction all of its own. Not that it's a particularly realistic rendition, or one that touches on 'major' events.
This is Hong Kong as seen through the eyes of Big Ears (Buzz Chung Shiu-to), a mischievous eight-year-old who lives in a ramshackle alley with his cobbler father (Simon Yam Tat-wah), harried mum (Sandra Ng Kwan-yue, above with Chung and Yam), and the boy's idol, his teenaged brother Desmond (Aarif Lee Chi-ting), a top student and athlete at the prestigious Diocesan Boys' School.
For more than half of the nearly two-hour running time, the director presciently paints a portrait of this hardworking family, their struggles, successes and sorrows. There is a true feeling of community on the small lane where they live, the street becoming a de facto dining room as the diverse households eat in close proximity and partake in each others' lives.
With Big Ears at its centre, the narrative frequently views matters with child-like simplicity, a conceit expressively captured by cameraman Charlie Lam Chi-kin through the clever device of the child literally looking at the world through a distorted lens, in this case a fishbowl masquerading as an astronaut's helmet. It not only fulfils the purpose of furthering Big Ears' character but also allows for the seamless integration of 1960s documentary footage of uneven technical quality.
The film suffers in the final section by descending into the melodramatic abyss of a heavily handled debilitating illness. The filmmakers pull out all the emotional stops but it's so overdone as to threaten the picture's previous delicate touch.
The third-act typhoon that all but flattens the family's abode is a far more powerful sequence better suited for serving as the movie's grand climax. Until that point, Echoes of the Rainbow nimbly treads the line that separates 'wistful' from 'maudlin'.
As with all Law-Cheung productions, the roles are well cast, from newcomers (Chung is a stand-out) to screen veterans and cameos such as John Wakefield's thoroughly corrupt Cantonese-speaking cop and director Ann Hui On-wah's hilarious turn as Big Ears' vexed teacher. In terms of emotive echoes, most poignant is Yam's dignified and devoted dad, a contrast to his abusive parent just a few months ago in Hui's Night & Fog.
Echoes of the Rainbow opens on March 11
