Top 5 films to watch in Hong Kong this week: November 17-23
The new vista in the Harry Potter universe, an incredible anime, a Holocaust revenge drama, a modern Japanese masterpiece and a homage to Hong Kong’s cinema poster artist are this week’s picks
Click on film titles to read SCMP.com reviews.
1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
J.K. Rowling brings back the awe with this delightful spin-off from the Harry Potter films, the first of five titles in the new series. More mature in tone but no less infused with magic, it revolves around Eddie Redmayne’s would-be author of the titular book of creatures. (Opens on November 17)
2. Your Name
Can Makoto Shinkai keep his “new Miyazaki” crown now that Miyazaki himself is coming out of retirement? Either way, Shinkai’s deeply poignant fantasy romance will go down as one of the greatest animated features to ever come out of Japan. Don’t miss this on the big screen. (Now showing)
3. Remember
Christopher Plummer anchors this fanciful if surprisingly efficient mystery thriller directed by Atom Egoyan. Playing a dementia-stricken Holocaust survivor out for revenge, the elderly actor immerses the audience in the disorienting world of his deeply conflicted character. (Opens on November 17)
4. Maborosi
While he’s now primarily known for his heart-warming, humanistic insights into family life, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda began his fiction film career with this poetic yet gloomy masterpiece, starring Makiko Esumi as a woman in grief. (November 19, part of Japan Film Festival)
Anyone remotely familiar with Hong Kong cinema from the mid-1970s to the early ’90s must have a vivid impression of the hand-painted film posters designed by the artist Yuen Tai-yung, who is affectionately profiled in this brisk documentary by Hui See-wai, the son of Michael Hui. (Opens on November 19)
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