How to Divorce During the War highlights how families can be torn apart, sometimes because of politics (Film review)

Display of posters of films, including that for How to Divorce 

During the War, screened at the 50th Hong Kong

International Film Festival 

 

  

Lithuanian filmmaker Andrius Blaževičius at the Q&A

session after a Hong Kong International Film Festival 

screening of his film 

 

How to Divorce During the War (Lithuania-Luxembourg-Ireland, 2025)

- Andrius Blaževičius, director-scriptwriter

- Starring: Marius Repšys, Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė, Amelija Adomaitytė

- Part of the HKIFF's Young Cinema Competition (World) program 

 

I don't know if others feel the same way about this but How to Divorce During the War strikes me as a title for an absurdist comedy rather than, say, an utterly serious drama.  As it turned out though, there is very little to laugh about in this work, set in 2022 Lithuania, about a nuclear family whose world is turned upside down by the parents splitting around the time that the Russians attacked Ukraine.

 

Vitas (played by Marius Repšys) is a filmmaker who spends more time daily cleaning the family home and being the main caregiver for pre-teen daughter Dovile (essayed by Amelija Adomaityte) than on the latest script that he's working on but has writer's block over.  In the eyes of his high-flying media exec spouse, Marija (Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė), he is a shadow of the interesting, intelligent man that she married -- and so she wants out.  (She's also in a lesbian relationship with a colleague who seems to have egged her to divorce her husband.)

 

Since their house was in Marija's name, she had the legal right to ask Vitas to move out of it.  Which he reluctantly did.  Their daughter Dovile stays with Marija while Vitas moves back in with his parents, who he finds increasingly hard to get along with; especially after he finds -- via their doing such as spouting pro-Russian propaganda about the Ukraine war -- that they do not share his political views, which are more aligned with that of his now-ex-wife along with their daughter.

 

Consequently, Vitas finds himself part of not just one but two families at war with themselves at a low point in his professional life.  And, truly, it's hard not to feel for him.  And, also, Doville.  Who doesn't say much but watches, observes and knows far more -- about the family situation and also what's going on in the world at large -- than her parents and other adults may realise.  

 

On the other hand, Marija is not always as easy to have sympathy for; and is someone whose actions I sometimes could understand but I disagreed with at others.  The most complex character in the movie, it is through her that one is shown the domestic and internal conflicts that can arise from a woman becoming the main provider of the family -- something that still is the exception rather than the rule.  Also the conflict that a working person has with regards to how much one should -- or, maybe the better word is can -- professionally and financially sacrifice for one's ideological beliefs.  

 

My sense is that many Hongkongers who viewed this film will most relate to Vitas: particularly, his experiences with his parents.  Because of what happened here in 2019 and after China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong (in 2020), and how what happened were covered and portrayed by media on different sides of the political equation, conflicts (have) ensued between many parents and their (adult) offspring; and resulted in the breaking up of families -- or, at the very least, an increasing number of (adult) offspring deciding to move out of family abodes to live on their own.    

 

Part of me wanted to ask How to Divorce During the War's director-scriptwriter, Andrius Blaževičius, whether he was aware of Hong Kong's situation during the Q&A that was held after the screening I attended of his film.  Also, whether he knew that many Hongkongers feel a kinship with Ukrainians (and why).  But while I didn't, I do get the sense that he wasn't entirely clueless about why this sensitive dramatic offering is one that can resonate with people here even though they live thousands of kilometers away from Lithuania and Ukraine.

 

My rating for this film: 7.0 

Two Prosecutors tells a tale that's sadly predictable but chilling all the same (Film review)

 

Poster for the ninth film I viewed at the 

50th Hong Kong International Film Festival 

 

Two Prosecutors (France-Germany-Netherlands-Latvia-Romania-Lithuania-Ukraine, 2025) 

- Sergei Loznitsa, director and co-scriptwriter (with Georgy Demidov)

- Starring: Alexander Kutznetsov, Aleksandr Filippenko, Anatoliy Beliy 

- Part of the HKIFF's The Masters program 

 

For much of Two Prosecutors, one only sees a single prosecutor on screen: Kornev (portrayed by Alexander Kutznetsove, whose nose looks like that of someone who emerged much the worse from a brutal boxing match or game of rugby!), a young government prosecutor only three months into his career.  Naive and idealistic, after coming into possession of a letter written in blood by a political prisoner, he decides to go see and hear the man: a former local party stalwart who had visited and given a speech about truth and Bolshevism at Kornev's law school.

 

Despite the prison head trying to dissuade him from doing so in multiple ways, Kornev stubbornly persists in meeting with a man considered so dangerous that he's been put in solitary confinement far away from other prisoners and watched over by multiple guards.  This despite  Stepniak (essayed by Aleksandr Filippenko) being elderly and physically weak, and, in fact being pretty close to death's door. 

 

It's pretty obvious that Stepniak has been physically tortured, and so badly that his internal organs are badly messed up.  It's less certain why the old Bolshevik ended up being among the victims of what looked to have been a power struggle that saw the NKVD (secret police; precursor of the KGB) infiltrate and take control of the Communist Party apparatus in their city of Bryansk. In any case, Stepniak adamantly maintained that if only his tale was told to Joseph Stalin, he would be freed and wrongs righted.  And asks Kornev to do just that.  Or, at the very least, appeal to someone in the central government over in Moscow to come clean up the locally centered mess.

 

Kornev, an upright, card-carrying member of the Communist Party, agrees to do so.  And journeys to Moscow to report all this to the man who's effectively his top boss: the Procurator General, Andrey Vyshinsky (Anatoli Beliy plays the film's second titular prosecutor, and real life historical figure).  But when they meet... well, let's just say that this scene is as chilling, if more so, than the moments when Stepniak shows Kornev the torture marks on his body as well as arms and legs.

 

Those who know that 1937, the year that Two Prosecutors is set, was the height of what's known as Stalin's Great Terror (or Purge) will have known early on where this film adaptation of a novella by Georgy Demidov, a Soviet physicist-writer-political prisoner was heading.  But it's the journey, rather than the destination, that really matters with regards to this tale. And director Loznitsa masterfully keep's one attention and stokes one's mounting horror regarding how things will end for the honorable Kornev for this gripping work's entire running time.   

 

By the way, that director Loznitsa was unable to make this film in his native Ukraine or Russia tells you speaks volumes about the current state of those parts of the former Soviet Union.  Equally clear is how Two Prosecutors is a strong indictment of the kind of regime that punishes righteous and idealistic folks who seek to do good unto one's fellow citizens. 

 

My rating for this film: 7.5  

The 2025 Hong Kong International Film Festival has begun, along with my personal HKIFF-ing! (Film reviews)

  

At the Hong Kong premiere of one of the 2025 Hong Kong 

International Film Festival's Opening Films

 

Pavane for an Infant's lead actress Fish Liew and director 

Chong Keat Aun on stage before the screening
 

Pavane for an Infant (Malaysia-Hong Kong, 2024)

- Chong Keat Aun, director and scriptwriter

- Starring: Fish Liew, Natalie Hsu, Tan Mei Ling, Pearlly Chua, Ben Yuen 

- Part of the HKIFF's Gala Presentations program 

 

At the Hong Kong International Film Festival last year, Chong Keat Aun's Snow in Midsummer was named the winner of the Firebird award best film for young cinema competition (Chinese-language).  When speaking to a couple of Hong Kong filmmakers after one of its HKIFF screenings, I got the distinct sense that they were impressed by the Malaysian drama about one of the country's taboo subjects, the "race riots" that occured on May 13th, 1969.  

 

The impression that the Malaysian director's become quite the darling among Hong Kong film folk increased this year with the selection of his Pavane for an Infant as one of the Opening Films of this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival.  And with Chong Keat Aun's third film having a number of Hongkongers among its cast and crew (including actress Natalie Hsu and cinematographer Leung Ming-kai).    

 

Despite her making her name in Hong Kong cinema, lead actress Fish Liew actually hails from Malaysia.  But because she had to be in Hong Kong for so many years already, she reportedly struggled initially to get back to speaking Cantonese like a native Malaysian Cantonese speaker rather than a Hong Kong one!  And it's very much to her credit that she not only does this in Pavane for an Infant but, also, speaks too in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin; something that her character, a worker at a baby hatch who interacts with Malaysians of other ethnicities as well as her own does.

 

Lai Sum (portrayed by Fish Liew)'s colleagues include Malay women and her boss is a ethnic Chinese woman (essayed by Tan Mei Ling) who's a practicing Muslim.  Among the women seen using the baby hatch are an ethnic Indian Hindu woman as well as ethnic Chinese ones; and among the adoptees of the abandoned babies are a Malay Muslim family.  Chong Keat Aun's film further showcases Malaysia's multi-ethnic, -cultural and -religious society and beliefs by including such as a Minangkabau ceremony celebrating a new female addition to the matrilineal society, and a Taoist medium (played by Hong Kong actor Ben Yuen).

 

At one level, the female friendships and various other demonstrations of female solidarity that course through Pavane for an Infant paint a positive picture of Malaysian society.  On the other hand, the fact that there are so many abandoned babies that the existence of baby hatches have become institutionalised, even if still opposed by certain strands of society, is, of course, less so.  And most definitely when many of the abandoned babies -- and abortions spoken about in the film (which actually are illegal in Malaysia) -- come as a result of rape and such.

 

As such, this is another one of Chong Keat Aun's films that I get the feeling will only be allowed to be screened in his native Malaysia after a number of cuts are made by the censors.  Which is a pity as he actually addresses important, relevant social and cultural issues in sensitive and thought-provoking ways; even though, I must admit, I could do without the "magical realistic" stylistic touches -- along with leisured pace -- that he does seem to be fond of too! 

 

My rating for this film: 7.5 

The Invasion (The Netherlands-France-U.S.A., 2024)

-  Sergei Loznitsa, director and scriptwriter

- Part of the HKIFF's Auteurs program

 

Despite Ukraine not being listed among countries that co-produced this documentary film, it's the country that's the focus of it.  Ukranian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa's also was shot entirely in the Eastern European country that has Russia invaded in February 2022 and is still very much a nation at war at the time of writing.

 

Unlike, say, Eastern Front, which I viewed at the 2023 Hong Kong International Film Festival, The Invasion doesn't have footage of battle.  But the war and enemy, and its effect on Ukranians, is very much apparent in this documentary which begins with an extended take of the funeral of a number of fallen soldiers that includes footage of their being mourned in a cathedral and, also, at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kyiv's Independence Square.

 

Over the course of the 145 documentary, a number of other funerals are also shown -- and, also, in long takes.  Sergei Loznitsa is obviously determined to show the sacrifices that Ukrainians have made for their country; ones that include the deaths of those who were the beloved spouses, parents, children of others, and respected and valued members of communities.  

 

At the same time, the Ukranians in The Invasion also are shown to be people who are determined to carry on with life even while living with death and destruction, the sound of war not far away and air raid warnings.  People -- soldiers but also civilians of different ages, ranging from elderly folk to young children -- also are seen observing happier ceremonies and times.

 

A cynic might say that The Invasion is a propaganda work, as it shows Ukranians to be enduring, and able to embrace life at a time when they and their country's survival are being threatened.  At the same time though, the price being paid is shown to be terribly high. And the fact that Ukraine has prevailed, is prevailing, more than three years on after Russia attacked and been attacking it, is something very much worth recording and witnessing.

 

My rating for this film: 7.5 

The latest works by VA Wong Sir and Ah To say so much about the situation in Hong Kong, and "the Far East"

Remember VA Wong Sir and Ah To?  The two talented political cartoonists may have left Hong Kong but they are keeping their eye on what's happening in the city they love and continuing producing works that are say so much about the situation in this part of the world.  And in recent days, both of them have produced illustrations that I think are very much worth sharing with others.  

 

So without further ado, I present to you this from VA Wong Sir (who now is on Twitter as well as Facebook as well as Patreon) which points out that Hong Kong is not (yet) "back to normal" like the Hong Kong government (including the Hong Kong Tourism Board) would like you to believe due to existing pandemic regulations and restrictions (never mind the national security law):

 

And this from Ah To (who has a Twitter account but appears to be more active on Instagram), produced to "celebrate" the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st of this year, which was inspired by -- and updates -- Tse Tsan-tai's "The Situation in the Far East" of July 1898: 

N.B. To appreciate the details of the illustrations, particularly Ah To's, click on the images to view enlarge versions of them!

Two European offerings at the Hong Kong International Film Festival which got an 8 (out of 10) rating from moi! :)

At one of the screening venues for this year's 

Hong Kong International Film Festival

 

Everything Went Fine (France, 2021)

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Cinephile Paradise progam

- Francois Ozon, dir.

- Starring: Sophie Marceau, Andrew Dussolier, Geraldine Pailhas, Charlotte Rampling

 

I wonder how many films there are out there that have a major character seeking to peacefully end their lives via assisted suicide?  In any case, I've now not viewed not just one but two: Canada's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar-winning The Barbarian Invasions (2003) close to two decades back; and now veteran French filmmaker Francois Ozon's Everything Went Fine (2021).  And both of them have been quite different, including in tone (with Ozon's film being darker in mood, though not as depressing as one might expect), but eminently watchable.   

 

Based on an autobiographical novel by the late Emmanuele Bernheim (who wrote the screenplays for Ozon's The Swimming Pool and 5x2), Everything Went Fine stars Sophie Marceau as a character named Emmanuele Bernheim who's a writer and the daughter of a wealthy art collector, André Bernheim (played by Andrew Dussolier) and former sculptor Claude (Charlotte Rampling).  The first time we see her father, he's in a hospital after suffering from a stroke.  Although André initially looks like he could at death's door, he in fact isn't and recovers sufficiently to be able to do such as attend his beloved grandson's clarinet recital and enjoy a luxurious meal at his favorite restaurant.  And yet, he is extremely dissatisfied with his well being and tells Emmanuele that he wants her to help him bring his life to an end.    

 

Tellingly, André does not make this demand of his other, presumably younger -- but not by that many years -- daughter, Pascale (Geraldine Pailhas).  He also doesn't bother to do so with regards his wife Claude, who has been suffering from depression for far longer than he's been upset with the way things have turned out in his life.  With parents like that, one might think that Emmanuele and Pascale would be pretty messed up individuals.  But, actually, they are not -- and from both these two women, one can see much humanity, and the kind of love for others that involves care, respect, sharing and sometimes even smiles and laughter.

 

There are some films where everyone is an awful person.  Everything is Fine is not one of those films -- and all the better for it.  At the same time, it manages to show and reveal humans to be complex, imperfect beings, who often make terrible demands of others even while being able to give and forgive.  And does so in a way that's so palatable and intelligently that it might be the Francois Ozon film I've liked best of the ones that I've viewed (and I've actually seen a fair few to date!).

 

My rating for this film: 8        

 

Captain Volkonogov Escaped (Russia-France- Estonia, 2021)

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Global Vision program

- Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, co-directors and -scriptwriters

- Starring: Yuriy Borisov, Timofey Tribuntsev, Nikita Kukushkin

 

This offering from Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov was the second of the first four films I viewed at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival with Russian subject matter.  Unlike Navalny, however, Captain Volkonogov Escaped is neither a documentary nor set in contemporary times.  Instead, it's set in Stalin's repressive Russia, where purges are taking place daily; albeit with certain stylistic anachronisms, notably the national security uniforms involving ruby red lower wear that resemble a cross between tracksuit bottoms and jodhpurs for the field officers and leather jackets for more senior ranks.  

 

There's also a spectre of a slain comrade (Nikita Kukushkin) who appears from time to time to haunt the film's titular character, Captain Volkonogov (Yuriy Borisov, giving a strong performance), and get him to go on a seemingly impossible mission involving getting at least one relative of one of his many tortured and slain victims to forgive him.  This after Captain Volkonogov realized one day that he and his colleagues were being "re-evaluated" and targeted for death -- for reasons unknown to them beyond it being the way of the authoritarian state that they serve and are dispensible pawns -- and that he needed to get the hell out of Dodge in order to continue living.

 

Otherwise, Captain Volkonogov Escaped is a fairly straightforward chase film which involves its titular character being pursued by Major Golovnya (Timofey Tribuntsev), another Soviet National Security Service Officer who knows that his life is very much at risk unless he does what he's ordered to do: in his case, track down and apprehend Captain Volkonogov within 24 hours; something that's not that easy to do given that the city where they reside, Leningrad, is pretty large and spread out.  And it doesn't help either that the people that might be said to have known Captain Volkonogov most -- the members of the Security Service who he worked the most closely with -- were all killed off within those 24 hours!

 

So fast paced that the slightly more than two hours spent viewing it really seem to fly by, Captain Volkonogov Escaped is quite the intense, involving thriller.  At the same time, some of the movie's slower, quieter, in-between-chase scenes may well be the ones that stick in the memory; with one particular one, involving a dialogue between Captain Volkonogov and a senior officer, in which it gets revealed why the victims of the purge singled out for "special methods" (i.e., torture) to be administered on them initially will protest their innocence, only to inevitably capitulate and "confess" their guilt, being utterly chilling and, sadly, all to familiar to those knowledgeable about the ways of authoritarian regimes. 

 

My rating for this film: 8.0

Entertainment at the Hong Kong International Film Festival by way of "The Outsiders: The Complete Novel" and inspiration from "Navalny"

I was the first one to get into one of the screenings I attended

(Yes, the cinema did start to fill up soon after I took the photo!)

 

The Outsiders: The Complete Novel (U.S.A., 1983)

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Restored Classics program

- Francis Ford Coppola, director 

- Starring: C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, Tom Cruise

 

My Hong Kong International Film Festival-ling last year began with a classic Hong Kong film.  This year, it began (this past Tuesday) with an American cult classic.  A 1983 coming of age drama set in 1960s Oklahoma, The Outsiders: The Complete Novel is based on a book by a female writer (S.E. Hinton) but has a cast that's mainly male as well as young -- and what a cast it is too!  But although Tom Cruise may be its biggest name, the superstar actor actually just has a small role in this movie.  Instead, it's C. Thomas Howell (as the quirkily named Ponyboy Curtist) and Ralph Macchio (as the often hangdog Johnny Cade) who have the most time on screen; with Matt Dillon and Patrick Swayze being the two other cast members who have the best opportunities to shine.       

 

For the record: the version screened at the fest is the 2005 version that's 22 more minutes than the originally released version.  Clocking in at 116 minutes, The Outsiders: The Complete Novel doesn't feel padded at all.  Another sign of its watchability: this tale that centers on working class boys and young men who are self-styled "Greasers" (whose "natural" enemies appear to be the "Socs" from the other, wealthier part of town) never is boring; this thanks in no small part to the charisma of the actors as well as how their characters were written.

 

Initially, it looks like it'll be similar in style and substance to offerings like Grease but The Outsiders: The Complete Novel is actually a darker, layered film; with death coming into the picture on a number of occasions.  There's also a scene of great visual beauty and poetry that's memorable and meaningful, and scenes showing the boys' love for literature that reveals that the film's two main characters, at least, have surprising and uncommon intellectual and psychological depth.

 

For all this though, it's hard to deny that one big reason for viewing the film in 2022 for the likes of me was the opportunity to see so many big names when they were mere up-and-coming talents and so young than, in the case of Tom Cruise, their voices were noticeably higher than they are now!  To be honest, based on what I saw of them in this movie, I would have expected C. Thomas Howell and Matt Dillon to have had more stellar careers than they have ended up doing.  On the other hand, Patrick Swayze looked and was good even then -- four years before Dirty Dancing, seven before Ghost, eight before Point Break, etc.  And it is sad indeed to realize that he's been gone from this Earth now for some 13 years already. 

 

My rating for this film: 7.5 

 

Navalny (U.S.A., 2022)

- Part of the Reality Bites documentary program 

- Daniel Roher, director

 

A couple of days before I viewed this enthralling, even gripping documentary about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, I saw a 17 Tweet thread by him whose first one bore the line "Greetings from solitary confinement" which gave a chilling account of what his life is like, and how he's being treated, in the maximum security prison that he's currently incarcerated.  Reading it, I marvelled how it was possible for a man experiencing what he did to be able to keep his spirits up and write things like "It's okay, it can be worse" and "The commission is right: I really seem to be incorrigible" (the last followed by a "wink" emoji).  Navalny goes a long way towards explaining how this can be the case.   

 

A CNN production that I wouldn't characterize as a puff piece, Navalny still does end up casting its subject in a favorable light.  But, in all honesty, I think this is due in large part to the man himself: who, at the very least, truly appears to not lack for courage, conviction and love for his country.  An individual who, prior to the making of the documentary, had already experience of house arrest and imprisonment, he also suffered a near fatal poisoning while Navalny was being made.  And yet, after getting treatment for the poisoning and spending time recuperating from the ordeal in Germany, Alexi Navalny voluntarily returned to Russia -- and into the arms of the authorities.             

 

Early on in this documentary, its director, Daniel Roher (whose documentary short, Finding Fukue, I had previously seen and was touched by) asked the subject of his film what message he had for the Russian people in the event of his death.  Initially, Navalny declines to do this.  But eventually, he agrees to do so.  For me, the message he delivered -- with such evident sincerity and conviction, and while looking straight into the camera -- alone (which can be found here, more than by the way) is worth the price of the whole movie.  

 

And I think Hong Kongers would do well to hear Navalny's message and apply some of it to their own circumstance too.  For my part, the following lines really resonated: "You're not allowed to give up... we are incredibly strong.  We need to utilize this power, to not give up, to remember that we are a huge power that is being oppressed by these bad dudes.  We don't realize how strong we actually are.  The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.  So don't be inactive"!     

 

My rating for this film: 8.5

Winter on Fire inspires, and generates support and empathy for Ukraine (Film review)

A 2015 documentary film that's back in the news

 

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (Ukraine-U.K.-U.S.A., 2015)

- Evgeny Afineevsk, director, producer and cinematographer 

 

As a gesture of support for Ukraine in the wake of it being invaded by Russia on February 24th, Netflix has made a 98-minute-length documentary which provides much needed background information to what's currently happening in the country free to view on Youtube.  Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom is a film that I'd bet is unfamiliar to many people in the world.  However, it's one that well known to Hong Kongers -- not because it won the People's Choice Award at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival or was nominated for the Best Documentary, Feature Oscar in 2016 but because many free screenings were mounted of it here in the latter part of 2019 and it served to inspire many pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong who viewed it.   

 

As it so happens, I never did catch a screening of the film back in 2019 and only just viewed Winter on Fire for the first time earlier today.  Still, I have to admit that I can't help but see this documentary about Ukranians out protesting on the streets of Kyiv through the eyes of someone who took part in street protests in Hong Kong in 2019, 2014 and many another year.  And I totally can understand why many Hong Kongers would feel a connection to Ukranians after watching the work as well as be inspired by what was initially an uprising -- whose protest camp in a central square brought to mind those in Tiananmen Square in 1989 for someone like me -- before turning into the full-fledge Maidan Revolution (or Revolution of Dignity) which took place in the winter of 2013-2014.

 

In November 2013, protests erupted in Ukraine after its then president, Viktor Yanukovych, opted against signing an accord with the European Union (that would have politically aligned Ukraine with "the West") and opt, instead, to have closer ties with Russia.  Initially, those who went and gathered at Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) numbered just a few thousand but the size of the protest crowd soon grew in size, with it becoming very apparent that a very large number of Ukranians wanted to be, as they chanted, "Europeans".

 

Like was the case in Hong Kong (in 2014 and 2019), the protestors were initially peaceful, with participants consisting of female and male, old and young (including a 12 year old prominently featured in Winter on Fire) and people from different walks of life (including professionals, trade unionists, students and retirees).  Something that wasn't explicitly mentioned in the film but also is visually apparent is that the protestors were multi-ethnic in nature: in that not all of them were stereotypically blonde haired and blue eyed and some of them actually looked like they were Roma (though it's also true that I didn't notice any Afro-Ukranians in the protest crowd or, for that matter, among the government forces sent in to quell the protest).

 

Also, sadly, as was the case in Hong Kong (especially in 2019), the protests soon turned violent though.  Or, rather (in both Hong Kong and Ukraine), the protestors were attacked by government forces and felt obliged to protect themselves and rescue others from violent fates at the hands of the government forces -- who, in Ukraine, fired live ammunitiion into the crowd as well as rubber bullets and tear gas, and also made use of stun grenades.  

 

One key way in which the Ukranian protest crowd differed from those in Hong Kong is that there were ex-military men in the midst.  It was interesting to hear a number of them talk in Winter on Fire, including about tactics and the kind of assistance they were able to specifically and generally render.  Another major way in which the Ukranian protests was different from the Hong Kong ones: a lot more lives were lost in public view, and directly as a result of the actions of government forces, in Kyiv.  (Should it not be obvious: the film contains some really disturbing footage, made even more upsetting to view because you know what you were watching was real on account of it being a documentary rather than a work of fiction)     

 

And then there's the most significant difference of all: the protestors in Ukraine succeeded in overthrowing the government -- with the unpopular president fleeing the country one morning.  In the post-script, the audience of Winter on Fire also is informed that the hated Berkut (the special police force that looks for Hong Kongers to be the Ukranian version of the riot police) was dissolved.  How many Hong Kongers would love for this to happen here but, sadly, have very little confidence that it ever will.

 

Regardless of whether I wear my Hong Konger hat while viewing this film or not, the following is for sure: Winter on Fire is a very good work: not only because it is thoroughly capable of getting the blood pumping but also because its narrative explains clearly what was shown happening.  In sum: it is a documentary that not only makes one understand why freedom from repression means so much to Ukranians but, also, gets one feeling it is only right to support their bids to remain politically independent.

 

My rating for this film: 9.0

A political documentary about the contemporary U.S.A. and another on Vladimir Putin (Film reviews)

Gone but not forgotten...

Fahrenheit 11/9 (USA, 2018)

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Cinephile Paradise program

- Michael Moore, director and scriptwriter

Seven days ago and four films ago, I viewed Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9.  Prior to doing so, I had worried a bit that I'd fall asleep during its screening as it'd be my third at the Hong Kong International Film Festival that day.  Looking back, in doing so, I had forgotten the maverick documentary filmmaker's ability to entertain and evoking strong emotional reactions as well as inform and educate.

There's no question that the subjects that Fahrenheit 11/9 examines and the issues addressed in it are pretty serious ones.  We're talking, after all, of topics including money-driven elections, political corruption, gun control (or, rather, the lack of), lead poisoning, voter apathy, striking teachers and the rise of White nationalism.  At the same time, Michael Moore proceeds to present them in a film with segments that can -- and did -- make people smile, snigger and laugh out loud several times over the course of this two hour work (in addition to frown, groan and want to cry with frustration at other points during the screening).  

If truth be told, I'm not sure if many of my (liberal-leaning) American friends would react in the same manner to such as the opening scenes of this documentary that showed the widespread assumption prior to Donald Trump's shock win on November 9th, 2016, that Hillary Clinton would be elected President of the United States of America.  And therein might explain why it is that this documentary is among Michael Moore's lowest grossing films ever: for even while it's clear enough that the filmmaker is no fan of Donald Trump, it's readily apparent right from the first few minutes of this offering that he's got far more targets than just the man who is the USA's 45th president, and that they actually do include individuals on both sides of the country's political divide.

Also impressively diverse and varied are the topics that Michael Moore covers in Fahrenheit 11/9 and manages to weave together in a masterful polemic about American governance and politics that saw him spending time in places as far flung as Flint, Michigan (his city of birth) and West Virginia as well as Washington, D.C., and New York City.  More interested in understanding and making clear the conditions that led to the rise of Donald Trump and the ideologies he represents than solely throwing vitriol on him and his ilk, this is a film that Americans seeking to prevent their continued dominance would do well to view -- and it's a tragedy that it seems that many of them have, for some reason or other, opted against doing so.

My rating for this film: 8.5         

Putin's Witnesses (Latvia-Switzerland-Czech Republic, 2018)

- Part of the HKIFF's Reality Bites program

- Vitaly Mansky, director and concept

In the late hours of the last day of 1999, as the Russian people were getting ready to ring in a new year, there came an announcement by then President Boris Yeltsin that he would be stepping down from office.  Filmmaker Vitaly Mansky was at home in Moscow with his family when they heard the news -- and, in fact, in the middle of filming them for what presumably was a home video originally intended entirely for private consumption.  

Although reports had it that his approval rate was down to a mere two percent at the time, Yeltsin's shock announcement still upset Mansky's wife and the elder of his two young children.  On the other hand, it's not clear if his younger child was more upset with her father following her into the bathroom to continue filming her or the news that they had learnt via watching Yeltsin's 'live' TV appearance while Mansky himself didn't seem unduly perturbed by the news -- and appeared to have no qualms to subsequently take part in the filming of what appeared to be a pretty candid documentary portrait of the new Russian president in his first few months of political office and the lead-up to what turned out to be the first of several electoral victories that has seen him remain as the country's head of state since that fateful day close to 20 years ago now.

Among the things that can't cease to amaze when viewing Putin's Witnesses is how freely Mansky appeared able to film Vladimir Vladimorovich Putin.  (Indeed, in the short time that they appear on film, Mansky's family voiced more objections to having his camera on them than Putin looks to have done!)  Also pretty astounding is how unassuming the man we now know is perfectly comfortable wielding great power and firmly holding on to it appeared -- or, rather, took pains -- to be in early on during his presidency.  

A sign of how much things have changed in the intervening years can be seen in Mansky and his family now living in exile (in Latvia) and this film not being listed as a Russian (co-)production despite all of it having been filmed in the country whose head of state its primary subject is.  One reason for this is, as Mansky acknowledged in a post-screening Q&A, Putin appears to have changed so very much from what he had appeared to be like back in 2000.  Also worth noting though is how inadvertently -- and thus chillingly -- revealing the footage he shot back then (which includes that of Yeltsin and Mikhael Gorbachev post retirement and also a room full of then Putin advisors and aides, of whom -- rather disturbingly (and tellingly?) -- only one of them has remained in his political circle) can be close to two decades on.  

My rating for this film: 7.5

Francofonia contains musings about the Louvre, and much more (film review)

The artfully conceived poster for one of the more distinctly art house 
works I viewed at the 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival 

Francofonia (France-Germany-The Netherlands-Russia, 2015)

- Screening as part of the HKIFF's Master Class program

- Aleksandr Sokurov, director and scriptwriter

- Starring: Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Benjamin Utzerath, Vincent Nemeth 

Museophile that I am, I've been known to check out a film just because it's got the word "museum" in its title (e.g., 1998 South Korean romantic offering Art Museum by the Zoo) or has a museological establishment as its subject (such as the two museum documentaries I viewed at last year's Hong Kong International Film Festival).  But despite it and being filmed entirely within the Hermitage and purporting to be a love letter to that great museological institution, I've not (yet) viewed Aleksandr Sokurov's acclaimed Russian Ark.

One reason for this is that I've not been aware of that 2002 historical drama being shown on a big screen anywhere near me.  If truth be told though, I've also been somewhat put off by the main thing about the film that usually gets raved about is how it was shot in a single, uninterrupted take.  Put another way: it seems that the standout thing about this work is technical in nature rather than concerns its content.

Although it was rumored that Francofonia would utilize the same filming method, Sokurov's second film about a museum was not shot in a single take.  At the same time, the Russian director-scriptwriter also does employ some unconventional techniques in this 2015 work that makes for his take on telling the story of the Louvre, France's greatest museum, more idiosyncratic than it could -- and probably should -- have been.

For most filmmakers, Francofonia's main tale, about the collaboration between the then director of the French National Museums, Jacques Jaujard (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing), and the German military officer appointed by Hitler to oversee the art collection of Nazi-occupied France, Count Franz Wolff-Metternich (Benjamin Utzerath), would be interesting and substantial enough to be the sole subject of a cinematic offering.  And this especially when one is able, like Sokurov was, to supplement his dramatic reenactment of this relationship and its outcome with historical footage of representatives of the Third Reich in Paris shortly after the French capital city had fallen into Nazi hands in the summer of 1940.

Instead, Sokurov opted to also throw in scenes in which the symbol of the French republic (as well as an allegory of liberty and reason), Marianne (Johanna Korthals Altes), frequently declaims “Liberty, equality, fraternity!” as she roams about the Louvre, and Napoleon Bonaparte (Vincent Nemeth) points out his portraits and artworks that he brought to France, and the Louvre, as spoils of wars that he won.  And while some might find these sections in the film to be a playful way of referencing other periods of the Louvre's history, I, frankly, found them to be overly fanciful and quite ridiculous.   

In addition, Sokurov went out of his way to point out how different were the Nazis' attitude towards -- and treatment of -- the cultural treasures located in France to those they came across during their damaging Russian campaign.  There are some who might consider these segments to be out of place in a film entitled Francofonia but I see it as the prerogative of its helmer cum scriptwriter to emphasize -- by reporting on actions which took place in his homeland -- that the Nazis' appreciation of art and culture was inconsistent and discriminatory. 

Indisputably the most unnecessary and ineffective sections by far of Francofonia for me were those in which a man (played by Aleksandr Sokurov himself) in an artwork-filled apartment Skypes with a certain Captain Dirk whose container ship containing the entire contents of an unnamed museum is being buffeted by high waves.  While they're supposed to be tense on account of the calls sometimes getting cut and the ship looking to be in danger of getting wrecked, it's hard to care for what's going on in those scenes as it's hard to figure out what they're supposed to mean as well as why they are in the film.

An ambitious work that sought to cover a lot of ground, Francofonia ends up feeling too much like an indulgent philosophical ramble undertaken by someone who doesn't care whether or not he tries the patience of others.  And it doesn't help that my suspicion is that its director-scriptwriter tried so hard to be different that he was prepared to sacrifice narrative coherence and leave its viewers metaphorically stranded at sea.   

My rating for the film: 6.0

David Lean's Doctor Zhivago is one epic film that stands the test of time (film review)

It's the second week of the Hong Kong International

Film Festival but I've not even been to half of the

screenings that I've got tickets for yet! ;O

Doctor Zhivago (Britain-USA-Italy, 1965)

- Part of the HKIFF's Restored Classics program

- David Lean, director

- Starring: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guiness

Looking back at my childhood in Penang, Malaysia, I've come to realize that I grew up in an era when going to watch movies in cinema was a regular as well as family affair. For although neither of my parents would consider themselves to be major film fans, my preteen memories include going to see Shaw Brothers actioners, Taiwanese weepies starring a certain Lin Ching Hsia before she acquired a Western name, and mammoth Hollywood epic such as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago with them along with more conventional family fare like The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. 

As might be expected, I can't remember every one of those films' plot detail.  But certain scenes have stayed lodged in my memory all these years -- and in the case of the two epic works directed by David Lean, the certainty that these were great works with grand scenes that are best appreciated on a truly big screen.  This view was confirmed when I saw Lawrence of Arabia at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre's Grand Theatre at the 38th Hong Kong International Film Festival two years ago.  Consequently, I knew I would be in for a great show when Doctor Zhivago screened at the same venue as part of this year's HKIFF.

Based on a novel by Nobel Prize-winning Russian writer Boris Pasternak which was refused publication in the USSR and consequently first published in 1957 in Italy, where the manuscript had been smuggled, this film adaptation begins with a Soviet general (Alec Guiness) searching for the daughter of his late poet half-brother, one of whose published works contains a poem about -- and a photo of -- the great love of his life.  A bumper 200 minutes in length, this epic work takes its sweet time to set the scene for its grand romance and not only introduces its audience to a large number of characters but leisurely lays out their backstories in substantial detail -- none more so, of course, than in the case of its titular protagonist.  

After his mother's death makes him an orphan, Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) was taken into the family of friends of his mother and brought by them to Moscow, where he led a privileged life and was studying to be a doctor but also was already a published poet.  Although it looked for a time like his future had been mapped out already for him, with a place in high society awaiting him along with marriage to Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin), the lovely daughter of the noble family who had taken him in, Yuri's life is radically changed -- along with those of millions of his countryman and -women -- when Russia enters the First World War and, even more so, by the Russian Revolution.

 

While serving as an army doctor at the front, he befriends and falls for his nurse, Lara (Julie Christie), despite her being married and a mother to a young girl, and his also being married and the father of a young son.  Entreated by Lara to not make any moves they'll both regret, they part after their services are no longer required at the field hospital they had been working in.  But although Yuri faithfully returns to his family in Moscow, you just know that's not the last time he'll be seeing the bewitching Lara -- and not just because Lara's Theme plays so often in the movie that its romantic tune is one of the things about Doctor Zhivago that even a preteen viewer can never forget!

Two other elements of the film that I remembered all these years was that there were many snow scenes and a long train ride in grim conditions but often through incredibly beautiful scenery.  Seeing Doctor Zhivago more than three decades on, I realize how gorgeous many of the former scenes are and how truly epic that train journey is.  And, actually, "gorgeous" and "epic" could well describe this film as a whole.

At the end of the screening, I walked up to a friend and said, "Now that's what I call a movie!"  We both laughed, so giddy with joy did we feel at having watched a film that felt utterly momentous in scale yet infused with personal emotions at the same time.  Back in 1965, some of Doctor Zhivago's critics accused it of trivializing history.  Watching the movie in 2016, I think it actually made certain historical events in a distant foreign land relatable by showing their effects on people's lives even while showing that life goes on -- and people consequently can love -- even in adverse conditions.

My rating for this film: 9.5

Game for a laugh outside a Yau Ma Tei mahjong parlour?!

An image pretty much guaranteed to get the attention

of those who pass by it (and put a smile on faces?)! :)

A few hours ago, the association football team I've supported since 1978 basically ended any real chance it had of winning the English Premier League this season in a game that it didn't just lose but also saw two members of the team sent off and a crucial player injured. After trying to destroy the Arsene Wenger bobble head my sister gave me -- but not being completely successfully in doing so because it turned out to be made of super strong stuff! -- I've decided to try another way to feel better: i.e., by thinking of and/or looking at something humorous.  

While looking through my photo archive, I found just the thing -- and reckon that the imaginative caricature I snapped while walking in Yau Ma Tei earlier this week is so cool that it's actually worth sharing on this blog (and yes, you can click on the photo to view an enlarged version of it)!  

Adorning an outer wall of a mahjong parlour is this large illustration which depicts Chinese president Xi Jinping, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Russian president Vladimir Putin and American president Barack Obama seated at a mahjong table.  And to judge by the chips on the table, Xi and Obama look to be doing well -- and this sense is given strength by Xi and Obama looking quite a bit happier than Abe and an especially disgruntled appearing, judo outfit-wearing Putin!

Just the image of this foursome playing mahjong together would bring smiles to the face of many.  But that wasn't enough for the ambitious artist, who also has North Korea's "dear leader" Kim Jong Un, popcorn in hand, being one of the game's spectators, German chancellor Angela Merkel at the party serving cupcakes, and the ghost of Saddam Hussein hanging on to the back of Barack Obama's chair!  

And while I can't identify the eighth personality in the picture, I'd easily imagine that he's a political heavyweight from the African continent.  If his hair were whiter, I'd say that it was supposed to be Nelson Mandela.  What do you think?! ;b