Dahomey in Hong Kong -- the Mati Diop documentary at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, that is! (Film review)

  

In a cinema waiting for a 2024 Hong Kong 

International Film Festival screening to begin

 

Dahomey  (France-Senegal-Benin, 2024)

- Mati Diop, director and scriptwriter

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

 

This postcolonial documentary was one of the films I was excited to see at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival.  For one thing, Dahomey won the Golden Bear at this year's Berlinale.  For another, in another lifetime, I was an Africanist.  And for a third, I've long been a museophile -- and have worked in museums on four different continents. 

 

There are those who might think that Dahomey would be anti-museums. Mati Diop's film is, after all, about the repatriation of 26 plundered royal treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey (~1600-1904) from museums in France where they had been on exhibit (and/or storage) to Benin, the West African state in whose territory Dahomey would be in.  

 

But, as we see in the documentary, the repatriated artefacts were/are installed upon their return to the African continent in another museum -- this one in Abomey, the old royal city of the Kingdom of Dahomey -- rather than, say, a palace or place of worship.  Something which is one of the subjects of a very interesting discussion at the University of Abomey-Calavi that was the highlight of the the film for me, and which I wish even more of it had been shown.

 

Up until the inclusion of the discussion in Dahomey, I worried that the story being presented was one that was too simple and privileging emotion.  This particularly since, early on, the words addressed to the audience was presented as monologues emanating from the artefacts themselves (rather than actual living human beings) and Mati Diop seemed most interested, in the early days after the objects' repatriation, to showing us expressions of awe and delight on the faces of those privileged to be among the first to see them back on African soil after years (centuries even) away.

 

This is not to say that there weren't individuals at the University of Abomey-Calavi discussion who were happy for the return of the Dahomey treasures to their ancestral homeland.  But, all in all, the students' exploration and interrogation as to how the people of Benin should feel about only 26 items having been returned even while thousands remain outside the country, who their return most benefits, how to make them more accessible (including to residents of Benin who live far away from Abomey, the poorer residents of the country, etc.) and so much more added much appreciated complexity to the story.  

 

In so doing, they also made this documentary offering so much more better and thought-provoking.  Kudos, really, to them.  And a reminder that the young deserve to be heard, not just the elders and ancients; and, actually, that they -- never mind Africans -- are not a homogenous bloc at all!     

 

My rating for this film: 8.0 

A strange week for me, and quite the rubbish week for Hong Kong!

  

A reminder (from a member of the Yellow Economic Circle) 

that self care is important

 

This has been a bit of a strange week for me.  One evening saw me so very upset by something I read that I could feel my blood pressure rising, my actually feeling hot in the head and my hands literally shaking.  Another saw me feeling reflective and depressed post viewing a film looking at traumatic family experiences and how their effects are felt for decades.  And a third had me so affected by a late night discussion about what's been lost in Hong Kong in recent years that I ended up literally having a dream in which I detailed to my mother all the the things about pre national security law Hong Kong that I now miss so much.

 

Hence my not having been in the right frame of mind to do any blogging.  And all this while, life goes on and events like the national security law trial of Jimmy Lai continue to take place; with this week seeing the first witness for the prosecution take the stand.  Here's the thing though: I can't quite figure out from the reports what Cheung Kim-hung, the former publisher of the now-defunct Apple Daily, has said of his former boss that is actually incriminating!

For example, on Wednesday, Cheung said of his old boss that "“Mr. Lai has a very clear image. He advocates for democracy, freedom, and opposes totalitarianism".  Doesn't that sound more like an endorsement and praise than condemnation?  Also, what's illegal about that?!

 

Cheung also "said Lai, in 2019, told his senior editorial staff that the government proposal to amend the city’s extradition arrangement was an “infringement of Hongkonger’s democracy, freedom and human rights,” and the Chinese Communist Party would use the amendment to send “thorns in their side” to stand trial in the mainland."  Again, what's wrong and illegal about that?

 

And there's this: “Mr. Lai’s instruction was to use Apple Daily to encourage people to take to the street, to put up resistance [against the government],” Cheung said."  A reminder: not all street protests are illegal; especially those which are non-violent and got letters of no objection from the police -- which was the case with the vast majority of the anti-extradition bill and pro-democracy protest marches and rallies that took place in 2019, the year that Jimmy Lai gave those instructions.

 

As for this: "On the international level, Mr. Lai wanted to draw the attention from western democratic countries, hoping that they would offer some help, even some stronger measures such as placing sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials.”  Again, this doesn't sound illegal or criminal to me.  Especially before China's imposition of the national security law on Hong Kong on June 30th, 2020!

In all honesty, much of what's going on these days doesn't seem to make much sense to me at all.  A case in point: the waste tax fiasco that had much of Hong Kong in uproar in recent days.  As Ming Pao journalist Alvin Lum noted, only partly -- even if actually -- in jest, "Forget about Article 23. The biggest challenge for officials might be waste charging"!

 

Another crazy thing that happened in Hong Kong this week: the M+ museum being made to not mention the name of a film that they nonetheless were allowed to screen.  (For the record: it was Beijing Bastards, a 1993 drama directed by Zhang Yuan!) Prompting the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers' spokesperson, Tenky Tin, to ask the entirely valid question: “From the point of view of a regular filmgoer, one has to wonder, how can you sell tickets for a film without disclosing its name?"!

 

Even more disturbingly, this week also saw the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) withdraw its support for an annual drama awards ceremony, citing “inappropriate” arrangements last year and warning the organisers they must not breach the law; resulting in the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies (HKFDS) – which organises the Hong Kong Drama Awards -- not only losing its subsidy from the government advisory body but, also, being denied a venue to stage it after the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) also told the drama federation that it would not be offering a venue for the event this year!

 

Rather than accept the HKADC's decision though, the HKFDS actually decided to publicly challenge it!  On Friday morning, the HKFDS's chairperson, Luther Fung , called a press conference to “defend the theatre industry’s dignity.”  In response to the HKADC's objections to two of last year's awards presenters having been  political cartoonist Wong Kei-kwan, known as Zunzi, and journalist Bao Choy, Fung asserted that "Zunzi is a veteran cartoonist – are cartoons not art? Choy is a documentary director – are documentaries not art?"

 

Addressing the HKADC, he said: ""You made an official decision without giving us a chance to defend ourselves, and that came as a shock to us,”... adding that there had been no official meetings between the council and the federation over the funding issue.  “We demand a clarification, and for accusations to be retracted — we will not file a so-called appeal,” said Fung. “[We’re] poor, but we have a backbone!”"

 

To which I say "kudos"!  And long may Hong Kongers have backbones and not be as easily bullied as the bullies might think and hope!

Japan and movies help me to keep the blues away (touch wood!)

120 years ago, master filmmaker Yazujiro Ozu was born

 

Puppet Ponyo at a "photo spot" which allowed people

to pretend they were on a set of Tokyo Story :)
 

Japan has been on my mind in recent months as well as Hong Kong.  It's not only because I was over in the Land of the Rising Sun a few weeks ago and was planning -- and thus thinking about -- it for a couple of months beforehand.  Rather, it's also I've been viewing a number of Japanese films courtesy of the Summer International Film Festival (at which I ended up viewing six Japanese films and zero ones from Hong Kong!) and still ongoing Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (at which I'll again be viewing more Japanese than Hong Kong movies -- though with this fest, I at least managed to get tickets for two Hong Kong offerings!).

 

Of the six Japanese films I viewed at this past Summer International Film Festival, four were works by Yazujiro Ozu -- one of my favorite Japanese filmmakers.  Actually, heck, I'd say he's one of my favorite filmmakers.  Period!  I mean: I've happily viewed his Late Autumn twice on a big screen now, and would quite happily go watch it again on a big screen should the chance to do so come up again!   

So imagine my delight when I happened upon a Yasujiro Ozu 120th Anniversary exhibition going on in a shop in Shinjuku on my recent Japan trip!  (Beams appears to be a popular, international brand -- but I must admit that I hadn't previously known about it and it was very much Ozu's name that enticed me into the shop rather than Beams itself!)

Something that I do very much enjoy is when my movie world and "real" world come together.  I've previously blogged about how part of my love for Hong Kong is that I often feel like I'm on/living in a giant movie set.  (And by the way, a place I frequent featured in a Hong Kong movie I viewed just last night!)  But there have been times now in Japan too where I've -- sometimes inadvertently -- ended up in locales that have featured in Japanese movies I've seen (including Akira Kurosawa's Dreams and Ran)!   

Also, let's face it, I can look at the world through cinematic lenses -- or make/find associations with movies -- more so than others.  As an example: earlier in the day, I had spotted water spiders on one of the ponds of Shinjuku Gyoen and got to thinking of Mon Mon The Water Spider, a short film I had viewed when I visited the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka back in 2006!

In any case: you know the saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"?  Sometimes, for me, it can be a case of "A movie a day keeps the blues away".  And I must say that the combination of film festing here in Hong Kong as well as the recent Japan trip has helped me be to be in a better mood -- touch wood! -- than one would think given what Hong Kong has become in recent years. :)

Checking out the Miss You Much Leslie and other film related exhibitions at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum (Photo-essay)

It's been years since I visited the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.  After finally doing so earlier this week, I regret not having done so months earlier; this especially so since if I had done so just a little more than a month ago, I'd have been able to catch the Out of Thin Air: Hong Kong Film Art and Costumes special exhibition which ran for four months.  And having missed out on that, I was determined not to also miss out on viewing the Miss You Much Leslie special exhibition commemorating this year having been the 20th year of superstar singer-actor Leslie Cheung's passing (which is scheduled to end this upcoming Monday (October 9th).  

 

As it so happened, when I went to the museum, I found some nice surprises!  Firstly, entrance to the museum's currently free! (I recall it previously being HK$10 for general admissions and HK$25 for special exhibitions, like the one on Monet back in 2016 and that on the works of Studio Ghibli back in 2014.)  Secondly, I found that a number of the museum's other exhibitions have film connections too.  

 

For the record: they don't only include the special exhibition on Bruce Lee and the installation in the Jin Yong Gallery (which I had already seen on a previous visit) but also a special display on Kwan Tak-hing (which opened in May 2021) and the new Hong Kong Pop 60+   permanent exhibition on Hong Kong popular culture from 1945 to the early 2000s (which, as far as I could see, went up to at least 2018, since I saw clips in it from Still Human)...

Outside the Miss You Much Leslie exhibition space

 

Many of the costumes and photos in the exhibition got me

(fondly) recalling attending a Leslie Cheung concert

in Atlantic so many years ago now...

 

Really miss you much, Leslie :S

 

Before Leslie, there was Bruce Lee -- and yes, I must say 

I was surprised to see the colors used (t)here since

they are associated with Hong Kong pro-democracy protests

(along with Bruce Lee's famous "Be water" quote)!

 

And before Bruce Lee, there was 

martial artist-film star Kwan Tak-hing

 

Bruce Lee's image also is on the front of the Hong Kong Pop 60+

exhibition (and the exhibition also features Leslie Cheung content)

 

A display in the music section of the exhibition (Photography 

was not allowed for copyright reasons in the film section :( )

 

What with many Hong Kong entertainers dabbling in more than

one field though, the music section still had film connections

(E.g., that white gown was worn by superstar singer-actress 

Anita Mui, the subject of the 2021 Anita biopic)

Already thinking of June 4th on the first of June

  

It may not look like much but the corner building

used to house a museum I'd visit annually

 

I used to make a point to visit the June 4th Museum (that commemorated the Tiananmen Square Massacre) around this time of the year.  My most recent visit there, on June 1st, 2021, coincided with a number of Food and Health Department Services also paying a visit to the premises.  As a result of their visit, the museum closed down -- and no longer exists.   

For a number of years, it also was a tradition of sorts for me to attend the Candlelight Vigil at Victoria Park on June 4th.  Again, that option no longer exists for me; with the authorities having closed the whole park -- Hong Kong Island's largest urban park -- on June 4th last year and in 2021 to the public.  (So people couldn't just not assemble to remember and mourn on the football courts, as had been the case for 30 years, but also avail themselves of other park facilities including tennis courts and children's playgrounds.)

 

In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the pandemic was the reason/pretext given for banning large public gatherings like the June 4th candlelight vigil.  But despite the pandemic no longer being considered to be at an "Emergency" level, there will once again be no candlelight vigil at Victoria Park on June 4th this year; this not least because the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, its organizing body, no longer exists and a number of its key members, including Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, are currently behind bars.     

So Hong Kongers are having to come up with other ways to comemmorate June 4th this year; with many determined to do so despite the authorities very clearly trying to extend the borders of the People's Republic of Amnesia to include Hong Kong.  In addition to the removal of books about the Tiananmen Square Massacre from public libraries, a number of incredibly petty moves have been undertaken in recent days.

This includes the harassment of establishments such as a store in Sai Kung run by former pro-democracy District Councillor Debby Chan after she announced on Facebook that her shop will give away free candles to commemorate June 4th and the Hunter Bookstore operated by another former pro-democracy District Councillor, Leticia Wong, after she made known that she had trilingual scripts of May 35th, a play about June 4th, in stock by the police and representatives of such as the fire services and the housing department.  (As has been seen with the June 4th Museum and also a number of "yellow" restaurants and bars, the shops get accused -- often with no basis -- of violating minor regulations.  For example, Debby Chan's store was visited by the police who were there ostensibly to check if it was selling alcohol to underaged customers!)    

 

Then there's the farcical case of a cinema having been "advised by industry representatives" to cancel three private screenings of a film that has nothing to do with the Tiananmen Square Massacre because those screenings were scheduled for June 4th.  As it so happens, the private screenings had been organised by  AsOne, an online shopping platform and store founded by yet another former pro-democracy District Councillor -- in this case, Derek Chu -- who told Hong Kong Free Press that "It was scheduled on Sunday simply because the directors (who were going to do a post-screening Q&A) are not available on weekdays. But I think it’s the date that was targeted, not the movie".     

 

For the record: the film in question is To Be Continued, a local documentary about an iconic North Point entertainment landmark and its founder, legendary impressario Harry Odell, which had its world premiere in April at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.  And having been one of the people who saw it at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, I can personally attest to it not being about the Tiananmen Square Massacre (unlike, say, The Gate of Heavenly Peace, which I viewed not so many years ago -- but which can now seem like another life time now -- at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, and is available to be viewed on Youtube)!

 

In any case, Dora Choi, one of To Be Continued's co-directors (along with Haider Kikhaboy), has confirmed that all three screenings of her film scheduled for this Sunday have been cancelled. "It’s a great pity that To Be Continued cannot be screened on June 4 (Sunday). Since the film was screened in April, weekends have always been a peak time for audiences. Also, the two directors are only available to meet the audience on weekends", she told the Hong Kong Free Press. 

 

More than by the way, this is not the first time that the Golden Scene Cinema has felt obliged to cancel screenings of films as it was the cinema where screenings of Inside the Red Brick Wall, the award-winning documentary about the PolyU siege, had been scheduled to take place back in March 2021.  And I must admit to wondering if the Golden Scene Cinema folks are feeling particularly targeted by the powers that be and thus feel a greater need to be more careful than most because the cinema and its parent organisation is considered to be part of the Yellow Economic Circle.    

Seeing how To Be Continued was my favourite of the films I viewed at the 2023 Hong Kong International Film Festival, I do hope that people will have more chances to view it (and take the opportunity to go do so).  I've just checked the Golden Scene Cinema website and see that there are other screenings scheduled for it: on June 9th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th and 19th.  Seeing as they all appear to already be sold out, I hope that more screenings will be added -- though I guess public as well as private screenings will not be taking place on June 4th.

Over on Twitter, HK Hemlock (of the Big Lychee, Various Sectors blog) has jokingly asked: "Why not shut all all cinemas on June 4? Indeed, why not close everything on that 'sensitive' day? They could call it a Number 64 Signal."  Thank goodness for small mercies that Hong Kong cinemas will, in fact, stay open on June 4th.  And, if one were to look at the offerings, one might even see films playing on the day in which resistance and rebellion are depicted as positive, admirable actions too!

Two very different films viewed at the 2023 Hong Kong International Film Festival (Film reviews)

  

Film fans waiting in line to get into a Hong Kong International

Film Festival screening at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre

 

The Last Dance (Japan, 1993)

- Juzo Itami, director and scriptwriter

- Starring: Rentaro Mikuni, Nobuko Miyamoto, Masahiko Tsugawa

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's The Complete Juzo Itami Directorial Retrospective program

 

Juzo Itami had a life that was full of experiences that just called to be made into a movie or more.  Five years before his death (which was made to look like a suicide but many people reckon came from his being murdered by Yakuza) in 1997, and after he made Minbo: the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (1992), he was attacked by Yakuza angered by the way Yakuza were portrayed in Minbo.  The experience caused him to contemplate death, and come up with The Last Dance: a dramedy about a director-actor (and remember, Juzo Itami acted as well as directed!) who ends up spending a not insignificant amount of time in hospital.

 

Rather than take on the leading role in the film though, the then still-recovering Juzo Itami had Rentaro Mikuni play Buhei Mikai, a filmmaker who becomes ill with cancer while acting in and directing a movie about a helmer who is seriously ill with cancer.  Adding to The Last Dance's meta quotient: Buhei's wife is played by Nobuko Miyamoto, who happened to be Juzo Itami's wife as well as regularly the leading lady in his movies!      

A good part of the first half of The Last Dance has Buhei on film sets and, in the hospital scenes, skewering the medical system which emphasizes saving lives to such a great extent that it can lead to the destruction of patients' quality of life.  It also contains scenes of Buhei having sex with his leading lady (played by Haruna Takase) and thus cheating on his wife: something which can feel awkward to watch given the understanding that Buhei is Juzo Itami's alter-ego in this film!

 

Still, this is nothing compared to how weird it can feel to view much of the second part of the movie -- which shows Buhei realizing that he has cancer, that his cancer is terminal and effectively preparing for death.  Watching this substantial portion of The Last Dance with the knowledge of how Juzo Itami died makes it so that it all makes for uneasy and even downright sad viewing indeed; and one can but hope that before his death and before his wife was widowed, Juzo Itami and Nobuko Miyamoto were able to have a significantly happier marriage and be better at communicating with each other than the main couple in this work!

 

My rating for this film: 6.0 

 

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (U.S.A., 2022)

- Laura Poitras, director

- Part of the HKIFF's Cinephile Paradise program 

Like with The Last Dance, death looms large over this documentary by Laura Poitras.  All the Beauty and the Bloodshed begins, in fact, with artist-activist Nan Goldin talking about her older sister, Barbara, who commited suicide when Nan was 11 years old.  And over the course of chronicling both Nan's artistic and activist careers, mention is made of a number of people (including good friends of hers) who have died: some from AIDs, others from other diseases, and still others from Opioid overdoses.

 

As All the Beauty and the Bloodshed makes clear, Nan Goldin herself has not had an easy life.  Determined to not end up the same way as her sister (and also her parents -- who do not come off well in the film), she left home in her early teens, took drugs (and became addicted to Opioids), entered relationships that were not only unconventional but, in one case, put her life in danger.  

 

As this documentary also shows though, Nan Goldin's a fighter and survivor.  In addition, she had the good fortune to be introduced to photography early in life and gained fame as a photographer who produced uncommon, striking visuals: some of which can be seen in All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, and some of her video art too.

 

I have to be honest and say that Nan Goldin's art is not particularly appealing to me, and what I admire more is her activism. After overcoming her addiction to Oxycontinin and surviving a near fatal fentanyl overdose, she founded the advocacy group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) in 2017.  She also set her sights on the company (Purdue Pharma) that mde Oxycontinin and the family behind that company (the Sacklers) and sought to make them pay for their pushing Oxycontinin on millions of people.

 

As it so happens, the Sacklers are known for their arts patronage.  And as a famous artist as well as an activist, Nan Goldin found herself in a position to shame art museums and galleries into cutting ties with the Sacklers by not accepting further funding from them and also removing their names from spaces within prestigious institutions like the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Louvre.  

 

In the course of her activism, Nan Goldin commendably put(s) a lot on the line. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed also shows that a lot goes into her art too and there's much to admire to that.  Still, Laura Poitras' work could never be accused of glossing over its subject's less attractive aspects.  But it's in Nan Goldin's willingness to reveal so much of herself, warts and all, that this documentary derives so much strength and, yes, beauty too.       

 

My rating for this film: 8.0 

An afternoon on the Dark Side of Hong Kong during which I saw darkness but also hope

 

One of the photos on display at an exhibition I went to this afternoon

 

I went to lunch over on "the Dark Side" today.  This is a nickname that Hong Kong expats (who stereotypically live on Hong Kong Island -- and are also are more likely to live on Lamma Island or Discovery Bay than Kowloonside -- have for Kowloon.

 

Along the way, I passed by the building that used to house the June 4th Museum that was dedicated to keeping the memory of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of June 4th, 1989, alive, and which was pressured to close and then was raided by the police in September 2021.  Incidentally, a cavernous cinema known as the Dynasty Theatre used to be located nearby.  I say "used to be" because where the 1,920 capacity screening venue was is curently a building site.  

 

Also previously located in the area was the China Cafe, an atmospheric cha chaan teng that was the location for a number of Milkyway Image movies (including, most famously, PTU).  I have to say that I didn't have the heart to go and see what's now in its place.

After lunch (at a popular eatery that's announced that it will be closing sometime next month -- but hopefully will be reopening at another location), I headed over to check out an exhibition put on by the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association.  Entitled Focus on the Frontline 2021, it comprises prize-winning photographs from journalists who covered a range of events including sporting ones (such as the 2021 Tokyo Olympics) and also those which were darker in nature.  These included the stabbing of a policeman outside the Causeway Bay SOGO on July 1st, 2021, by a man who subsequently killed himself, and also a number that turned out to be related to the commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre here in Hong Kong.

More specifically, there's a photo showing the police loading confiscated June 4th Museum items (that included a cardboard cutout of the late pro-democracy activist-politician and chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Szeto Wah, holding a commerative candle in his hand).  There also are photos showing the dismantling and removal of the Pillar of Shame from its previously prominent location at the University of Hong Kong's campus. 

 

On display at the exhibition too is a photo of Chow Hang-tung, the lawyer-activist who is actively seeking to keep the flame of the Hong Kong Alliance and the right of people to commemorate the Tianamen Square Massacre in Hong Kong alive even while fighting for her own freedom (and against Hong Kong government efforts to keep her in prison for many years to come).  Seeing the image of her with her inflatable bed in her office really hammers home how dedicated and committed to the cause she is, and has been for years now.

A blurb for the exhibition includes the following paragraphs:

In the past few years, the social and media environment in Hong Kong has undergone tremendous changes. Several influential mainstream media and online media have suddenly ceased operations. Become a freelance photographer.

However, while facing the changes, the photographers still only stayed at their posts until the last moment, shooting wonderful news works with historical significance, and witnessing the transformation of the city together with the citizens.

Some of the photographs give one a real sense of the yeoman efforts and work of Hong Kong's press photographers.  Truly, there are times when I think that they (along with many a journalist, editor (like former Stand News chief editor, Chung Pui-kuen  and publisher (notably Next Digital's Jimmy Lai) truly have been pretty heroic; with many of them going beyond the call of duty to make sure people see what's been going on in the world of Hong Kongers.

I also got the sense from the exhibition that many of the photographs were of people that the photojournalists and/or curators of the exhibition respect and admire, and consider heroes too.   These include Olympians who've brought glory to Hong Kong, notably fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long and swimmer Siobhan Haughey, and also the likes of singer-activist (and former 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund trustee) Denise Ho and filmmaker Kiwi Chow. 

More re Kiwi Chow: his protest documentary, Revolution of Our Times, may never be allowed to be screened in cinemas in Hong Kong but his latest effort, a Chinese New Year comedy entitled Say I Do To Me(!), is scheduled to play in local cinemas over the festive period (and beyond).  And for those who didn't realize: yes, he has remained in Hong Kong all this time.  And it's good to see that he -- and the likes of the similarly openly pro-democracy Anthony Wong Chau-sang -- still are able to find work and an audience in their home city... which may be down and facing dark times but really ought not to be counted out (just yet)!

One more (and last?) visit to M+ (Photo-essay)

On the final day that entrance to M+ was free for Hong Kong residents, I spent a few hours at the museum of visual culture whose opening many people (including myself) had looked forward to for years, only to feel not so enthused about it when it finally did so -- thanks to China imposing a national security law on Hong Kong and censorship (of films and undoubtedly of other arts too) having become a thing in this territory where free speech used to be taken for granted.  On my first visit to the museum a few weeks earlier, I had gone through the Hong Kong: Here and Beyond exhibition and the galleries devoted to the M+ Sigg Collection.   

I also had quickly gone through rooms devoted to other exhibitions that made me realize that I needed another visit to better appreciated them.  Thus it was that did so on this second visit -- during which I also enjoyed taking in the Golden Hour and after dark views from M+'s 3rd floor roof garden, and a (sneak) peek at sections of the Yayoi Kusama exhibition (which opened on November 12th and would cost one HK$240 to officially check out!).  

 

More than incidentally, it seemed like the museum had more visitors on its final free day than when I previously visited.  There also were a good number of people there taking selfies in its galleries and, also, a few people who looked to view the museum primarily as a setting for them to take photos of their companions, some of whom were posing away like professionals!  Fortunately, it still wasn't TOO packed though; and I found that if I waited just a few seconds, most of the time, I'd end up with clear shots of the art work -- though, in some cases, it was actually amusing to have people in the frame of them too! ;b

Zhang Wang's Artificial Rock No. 31, with museum guard! :)

 

Malaysian artist Heman Chong's Monument to the people 

we've conveniently forgot (I hate you) -- which is

made up of 1 million pitch black business cards!

 

Palimpset, by Wang Gongyi (who is listed as working in 

both Portland and Hangzhou), and two admirers

 

Michael Joo's Untitled (5.1.14)'s sculptures bring to mind

police riot shields that bear the scars of clashes with protestors

-- and evoked visceral reactions from more than one M+ visitor

 

A section of M+ gallery space dominated by 

anothermountainman's building hong kong 03/redwhiteblue

 

Alan Chan's album cover for Anita Mui: Leap the Stage

 

Tina Lui's album cover for Deanie Ip: You Left Me Here

-- showing Deanie Ip as I've never seen her before!

 

Yayoi Kusama's Death of Nerves does look pretty awesome-- 

but I'm still leaning against paying HK$240 to see any art exhibition! ;(

Victoria Harbour views that confirm that Hong Kong is really beautiful (Photo-essay)

I got my electricity bill for November a few days ago and was surprised to find that it was for 1/10th that of October!  I guess one reason for this is that, even while the last few weeks still are warmer than is usual for this time of the year, the temperatures have actually been cool enough that I no longer feel a need to have the air conditioning on -- during the day as well as the night.

 

Another, related reason is that the weather's been pleasant enough for me to feel happy to spend time outdoors some more (rather than spend lots of time in my (air-conditioned) apartment).  A measure of how warm it still is can be seen in my still not having felt inclined to go hiking yet.  Still, I've been enjoying walking around in the city and doing such as taking in views of Victoria Harbour -- including a vantage point I only discovered last week: from which I had got glorious Golden Hour views and snaps -- and, as you'll see in this photo-essay, cool after dark ones too! :)        

 

A view from M+'s 3rd floor roof garden (which, if I'm not mistaken, 

can be freely accessed separately from the museum proper)

 

The Star Ferry going across -- not the Mersey but Victoria Harbour 

 

Pretty as a picture, huh? :)

 

Hong Kong is really beautiful!

 

The more usual vantage point for shots of Victoria Harbour

is to the east of the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier

 

But this time around, I was gazing out and snapping

my photos from West Kowloon

It must be a yachtsman (or -woman)'s dream

to sail about in Victoria Harbour

 

I wasn't the only person up on the roof garden 

but it also was far from crowded, which was cool! 

And yeah, at times like these, I couldn't help but feel 

that I do really f**king love Hong Kong :)

Sunset and Golden Hour views that help show that Hong Kong is really beautiful (Photo-essay)

After a long time of not doing so, I've returned to visiting museums again.  As it so happens, on the two days of the past fortnight that I've gone and visited art museums, I've also been treated to beautiful sky shows by Mother Nature.  The first time around, it was after I got out of the Hong Kong Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui.  Yesterday, it was while I was on the 3rd floor roof garden of M+.  

 

For the record: yesterday was the last day that entry to M+ was free of charge for Hong Kong residents.  From today on, general admissions cost HK$120 per person and entry to special exhibitions there (like the Yayoi Kusama exhibition which opens today) will cost HK$240.  And while I have enjoyed my visits to M+, I don't think I'll be going there again any time soon (except for the Hong Kong: Here and Beyond section, which remains free of charge through to June 2023 -- and, as it so happens, is my favorite exhibition in the museum)! 

On the other hand, sunsets and their associated Golden Hours remain free to view from a number of vantage points in Hong Kong.  So I plan to view a number of them for some time to come.  Also, I suppose I could try to view a Hong Kong sunrise some time. I actually have never done so to date!  Indeed, the one sunrise I can recall having gotten up to view in recent years -- decades, even! -- has been that which I saw from the top of Jeju's Seongsan Ilchubong back in 2018! :D

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this

spectacular sky over Hong Kong two Mondays ago!

 

I swear: this photo's not Photoshopped!

 

By the way, the T3 signal was up when this picture was taken!

 

But while some might think the sky looked angry,

I just saw it as really beautiful :)

 

In contrast to that two weeks ago, yesterday's sky 

was calmer (but, to my mind, no less beautiful)

 

The wonders of zoom lens as well as Mother Nature :b

 

I think this photo shows full well 

that Hong Kong is really beautiful

 

The kind of view that makes my heart swell -- 

and, yes, I still really do f**king love Hong Kong!