Top 5 films to watch in Hong Kong this week: December 17-23

For films we have reviewed, click on headline to read what we said.

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Forget George’s Lucas’ tortuous prequels. The iconic sci-fi fantasy series is back to its scintillating best with J.J. Abrams taking the helm, at once building on legacy characters from the original trilogy and introducing sparking new stars in Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. (Opens on December 17)

2. Level Five / La Jetée

This double bill of two experimental sci-fi classics is centred around the enigmatic filmmaker Chris Marker’s obsession with an intangible past: the virtual reality of a video game in Level Five (1997), and an impossible memory in the short film La Jetée (1963). (December 19, part of Cine Fan programme)

3. Ten Years

Arguably the best socio-political drama to emerge in the post-Occupy Hong Kong, this collection of five delicately conceived short films by emerging directors vividly imagines the city a decade from now with an absurdly bleak, if also regrettably plausible, outlook. (Opens on December 17)

Photo: Courtesy Photofest.

4. The Man Who Fell to Earth

David Bowie made his acting debut as an androgynous alien in Nicolas Roeg’s cult adaptation of Walter Tevis’ novel, which blends science fiction and arthouse sensibilities to explore the loneliness of contemporary human life. (December 20, part of Cine Fan programme)

5. Human Capital

An engrossing morality tale for the capitalist world, Italian director Paolo Virzì’s adaptation of Stephen Amidon’s novel brings out the worst in all the characters who are inadvertently impacted by the wealth disparities between a real estate agent and a hedge-fund manager. (Now showing)