Comparative Analysis: Hong Kong Films

Introduction

Hong Kong is one of the cities with the highest income and high revenue businesses in the world. Its popularity stems from the perception that it is a land opportunity and hardworking individuals where everyone can succeed. Indeed such notions have led to the emergence of the notion of the "Hong Kong Dream" where people from all over the world move to the city with the hope of becoming wealthy. The representation of the allure of Hong Kong is captured in popular culture through numerous films that depict many individuals who move to the city with the hope of becoming rich and creating an identity for themselves and their loved ones. Some of the movies include Comrades: Almost a Lover Story, Durain Durian, and Chungking Express whose characters, plot, and style highlight the journey, dream, and identity struggles that many people undergo in Hong Kong.

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Dream, Journey, and Identity

In "Comrades: Almost a Love Story," the 1996 film follows the life of Li Xiao-Jun from and Li Qiao, two Chinese mainlanders who move to Hong Kong to make a living. While Xiao is naive, Li Qiao is an opportunist from Guangzhou who takes advantage of innocent mainlanders who cannot speak Cantonese for her financial gains. It is under these circumstances that Li Qiao meets Xiao-jun, her next victim who is naive but very ambitious. Xiao-jun has also come along with his young fiancee with the hope of gaining economic prosperity in the city. In their journey of seeking for financial success, Xiao-jun and Qiao soon realize, despite the massive population in the town, they are isolated and feel out of place amongst the Hong Kongers. Brought together by their desire to move up the social ladder and their struggle to create an identity that fits with those of the locals, Xiao-jun and Qiao find themselves relating more and sharing an identity. As they sell Teresa Teng's records (a famous mainland Chinese musician), they find that many people in Hong Kong do not listen to her songs, and this strengthens their feeling of a shared identity, which makes them fall in love. The actions of Xiao-jun indicate that he starts cheating on her fiancee, and breaks the vow of faithfulness that he had made to her. When Qiao's savings her wiped following a stock market crash, she realizes that their relationship is not heading anywhere since that is not what brought them to Hong Kong. They go their separate ways and meet again after three years during Xiao-jun's wedding, where they eventually end up in a hotel room together. Despite their different perspectives and ambitions, Xiao-jun and Qiao keep crossing paths even when they meet again in New York, brought together by a shared love for Teresa Teng's music. Peter Chan's style (the director), can be considered as constituting both drama and melodrama as he tries to bring both approaches to ensure that the film highlights the ups and downs of Chinese mainlanders as they strive to establish a living out of Hong Kong.

Another film "Durain Durian" directed by Fruit Chan follows the life of Yan, a 21-year-old female from China mainland, who after being sent by her parents to work in Hong Kong becomes a prostitute, with the aim of earning as much money as possible before her visa expires. Just like many other mainlanders, Yan finds it challenging to fit into the Hong Kong society, and stays isolated, with her significant interactions being her customers and fellow prostitutes from China. Further, she interacts with Fan, who together with her family is in Hong Kong illegally. Yan's linkages and connections with only people from the mainland or those who share her career show her recognition of her identity, and hence the need to interact with those she can easily relate with due to shared experiences. After Yan's three months stay in Hong Kong, she returns to her family and ex-fiance and resumes her life with everyone oblivious to her work while she was away. Such is the life of many Chinese mainlanders, who, driven by the desire to make a living and achieve the Hong Kong dream, soon find its challenges and are willing to anything possible to make as much money as possible and extend their identity as having succeeded in life. In this case, failure is not an option, and people are willing to go to great depths to make a worthwhile living as long as they know that they are beyond the privy eyes of their families and friends from home. Once back to the mainland, Yan assumes the ideal character of an innocent young girl who her parents would never imagine that she engaged in prostitution while in Hong Kong. Such double life shows the lengths that individuals are willing to go to achieve their ideal lifestyle. Fruit Chan follows a naturalist style where the film has a documentary concept where interactions between Yan and her client are shown as real with little or no background music to highlight the life of prostitutes and other mainlanders as they overcome the challenges of fitting into the highly competitive Hong Kong.

"Chungking Express" directed by Wong Kar-wai in 1994 is another film that highlights the life of Hong Kong. While it does not follow the same approach as "Durain Durian" and "Comrades: Almost a Love Story," the movie strengthens the notion of the loneliness that people experience in Hong Kong, despite its enormous population. In the film, the love lives of two Hong Kong police officers are depicted. In the first story, He Qiwu has broken up with his girlfriend on fool's day. Qiwu decides to wait for a month for his ex-girlfriend to choose to come back or not after which he will move on. At the same time, an unnamed woman working in the drug underworld is dealing with the risk of being set up, and in the process meets Qiwu, who they spend a night talking about their miserable, lonely life. Although they are from different and opposing worlds, the police officer and the drug dealer are human and are brought together by their desire to have a sense of belonging. The interactions between the two show the life in Hong Kong, which is characterized by a widespread sense of loneliness yet the desire to belong overcomes barriers and people change or adjust their lives to deal with the issue regardless of the approach that they use. For instance, it is unimaginable that a police officer and a drug dealer would find common ground to address something such as loneliness.

The second story in the film, although not as exciting as the first one, follows the life of another police officer, also dealing with a break up with a flight attendant. Faye falls in love with the policeman and chooses to help him out to go through his difficult time after the breakup. She goes to the officer's apartment, cleans it, and goes on a date with him. However, she is not ready for a serious relationship and seeks to travel the world before settling down. In this narrative, it is evident that the two are on a different page with Faye still trying to find an identity as apparent from her desire to travel while the police officer, probably afraid of loneliness, is keen on entering into another relationship. The director's style focuses on juxtaposing the buzzing life of the streets to the solitude of the inhabitants of the city, and the way individuals deal with it.

The three films, despite their unique approaches, reveal the allure of the Hong Kong dream, that attracts people from different parts of the world, yet they all face a similar predicament of desolation as they strive to fit into a society that is too busy for a social life. The main characters lead a double life where despite trying to remain good citizens, their desire to have an identity and a sense of belonging makes them keep secret lives that they would never wish other people to know about. The individuals change depending on circumstances, to fulfill their desires for love and a sense of belonging, while their urge to retain a given character pushes them to great depths to ensure that their other lives are unknown to the outside world. Overall, while the Hong Kong dream is worth striving for, the downside is loneliness and isolation that pushes individuals to commit activities that, if known, would be shameful.

The Films I Like and Dislike

I like "Comrade: Almost a Love Story" because of its storyline that represents the life in Hong Kong in a manner that is believable and is representative of many people from China mainland who go to the city in search of an elusive better life that they cannot attain at home. Its realist scenes and its highlights of the music by Teresa Teng make it a film that many viewers, especially from mainland China can easily relate to and understand the struggles of those who move to Hong Kong. Further, the director's application of both drama and melodrama makes the film enjoyable to watch with scenes that represent difficult and real-life situations of life in Hong Kong while at the same time adding some humor to ensure that the viewer understands that despite the challenges of the city, there is still some space for happiness.

On the contrary, I dislike "The Mermaid" a 2016 film that is fictional and follows the life of tycoon Liu Xuan, who falls in love with a mermaid. While the movie can be considered as seeking to show the impacts of urbanization on ecosystems, I feel that the use of a mermaid trivializes the matter and make it seem like such outcomes on natural systems is justifiable. The film, despite its major success in China and beyond, uses an approach to show the Hong Kong life in a manner that many viewers may not relate to, and thus, makes the intended message difficult to discern. In this case, I feel that the film has failed in its ability to show the notions of identity and love in a way people can understand, and thus, does not excite me as the "Comrade: Almost a Love Story." Despite my dislike for the film, the author's use of fiction and characters that are not human is presented well, and for those who like it, it is a masterpiece of the triumph of Chinese film in fictional film segment.