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香港製造 (1997)
Made in Hong Kong


Reviewed by: ororama
Date: 03/14/2010

Made In Hong Kong tells the story of a young high school dropout on the fringes of a criminal gang. He works collecting debts for a loan shark, without much apparent success.

He is reluctant to become more deeply involved in the gang, but recruits a mentally retarded young man as a subordinate, apparently in an effort to appear more important and intimidating. He becomes romantically involved with the seriously ill teenage daughter of a woman who owes money to his boss. He drifts, lacking the ruthlessness to succeed at the work that he has chosen and the direction to do anything more useful.

Director Fruit Chan effectively creates a portrait of aimless, disaffected youth similar to Patrick Tam's Nomad. Sam Lee displays considerable energy and charisma in the lead role, and is surprisingly able to sympathetically portray a character who possesses little of either. Neiky Yim is wonderfully free-spirited but vulnerable as his girlfriend.

The movie, like Nomad, has to solve the problem of where to take characters whose lives are going nowhere, and who spend most of their time moping about their lack of options for the future. The resolution, as in Nomad, comes through violence, although here it feels organic to the story since the characters are exposed to intimidation and casual violence from various sources on an almost daily basis. The bleak ending is in keeping with the resigned despair that the young people display from the beginning.

Made In Hong Kong successfully provides a look at youthful alienation in the period before the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, with an outstanding debut by Sam Lee and an excellent performance by Neiky Yim. Fruit Chan, who showed promise with Finale In Blood, established himself as a director to watch with this film.


Reviewed by: skllee
Date: 04/24/2003
Summary: Depressing? No

Can't believe what everyone else says about this film. OK, the film has a darker side but it also has lots of humour and it is just so vital and playful. Fruit Chan is not everyone's cup of tea, just like WKW, but you have to admire his storytelling vigour. It feels so loose (the framing) yet at its heart there's a string of compelling stories. The story of the schoolgirl's suicide sent shivers up my spine - it was actually quite lyrical and was used funnily. Finally, let's not forget Fruit Chan has discovered a number of actors including Sam Lee and he made a lot of it with his own money. Some of you should try making a short film yourselves before you criticise ....


Reviewed by: pjshimmer
Date: 04/05/2003

This is definitely a good film. Depressing? Quite. Boring? Yes, when it starts out. It gets better. I watched it in Cantonese without subtitles, so unfortunately I can't say I understood everything. But let me tell you, it's amazing.


Reviewed by: Mikestar*
Date: 11/15/2002
Summary: well- Made in Hong Kong

The first in a trilogy from Fruit Chan (followed by 'Little Cheung' and 'The Longest Summer'), this film has received much critical acclaim and attention of late, particularly in art-film and academic circles.

Often criticised for its depressing and bleak perspective on Hong Kong's youth it is no less pessimistic than some of the more popular variants, such as Andrew Lau's "Young and Dangerous" series.

Whilst the direction is innovative and engaging (especially the colour tones, shots and editing), the true beacon of this film is Sam Lee (playing 'Cheung Chau')in his acting debut. Portraying a mixture of disenchantment, alienation and vitality you can't help but feel attachment for Cheung Chau and his circumstances.

The narrative itself is fragmented (in a style reminiscent of Wong Kar-wai), but effectively it centres on three friends who become intimately connected and ultimately consumed by a suicide note that they stumble across.

Some of the film's scenes are quite distinct and memorable, notably when the Chueng Chau poses narcissistically with a newfound gun (shot in MTV style), and later when he aborts an assasination attempt.

A unique and non-formulaic film, 'Made in Hong Kong' provides an alternate and ambivalent perspective on youth culture and disaffection from its commercial counterparts.


Reviewed by: Inner Strength
Date: 05/02/2002
Summary: Poor

Just as the others said, this is just way too depressing to see. Apart from some good acting, the whole film seems have nothing else to say but, "feel sorry for us". I can't recommend this, perhaps if it had something else to offer except for the good acting then things might have been different.

Chan Goh has never really made a good film anyway in my opinion, and this one is certainly no exception.

Rating: [2/5]


Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 07/04/2000
Summary: DEPRESSING!!!

i TOTALLY agree with STSH!!

A movie this depressing, why watch it? To depress yourself?

With all theses good things i read about this movie i expected a lot!! i had no idea what this movie was about and almost bought it since i heard it was so good!! Luckily i didn't~!~ I probably would of thrown it away because watching this is to put you in a SAD mood!!!


All the performances were great by the way but I just can't rate this because i don't want to think about this movie!!
SORRY!!


Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 05/24/2000
Summary: Too depressing

Okay, I'll concede a couple of good points. The lead actor's performance is impressive and convincing. The story is challenging and tackles difficult issues.
But I hated this movie. It was totally depressing and, especially at the end, completely pointless and facile. Clearly, I cannot recommend this film.

Reviewer Score: 2

Reviewed by: grimes
Date: 04/08/2000

Wow! Made in Hong Kong is an amazing, stunning film, one of the best I've seen it
quite a while. In fact, I enjoyed it so much after seeing it the first time that I went
back the next day to see it again!

Sam Lee is Autumn Moon To, a poor junior high dropout who collects debts for
Brother Wing when he's not hanging around aimlessly. He is not really a triad
member, as he himself points out, because he is unwilling follow just any order.
While he is willing to do some jobs, he does not want to risk his life or kill others. He
lives in an industrial looking apartment complex with his "junior" Sylvester, a mildly
retarded man who Moon takes cares of, and his mother. Sylvester's family denies
knowing him so Moon is his only caretaker and protector.

On a debt collection assignment, Moon and Sylvester meet Ping, a sixteen year old
girl who has chronic kidney disease and will die without a transplant. They begin
spending time together and soon fall in love. Near the beginning of the film, a
teenage girl named Susan Hui jumps to her death in front of Sylvester. He picks up
the two blood soaked letters next to her body. Though neither Moon, Sylvester, nor
Ping know Susan, they keep returning again and again to the haunting fact of her
death.

Do not be mistaken, Made in Hong Kong is not a tearjerker romance with a dying
female lead nor is it a film about people trying to uncover the hidden mystery behind
a teenage suicide. Indeed, it would be hard to come up with a one-sentence
description of what the film is "about". It is about being young, poor, and alienated in
a society that reveres wealth, it is about family relationships (both Ping and Moon
have been abandoned by their fathers), and it is about many other things as well.

The performances in this film are nothing short of amazing, particularly Sam Lee as
Moon. Moon is an incredibly complex character, part triad bully, part wounded child,
part caring adult. Sam Lee expresses all of these aspects brilliantly, making us feel
for Moon even when we don't like what he is doing. He is the product of a society that
has given up on him too soon. His potential for being a complete human being has
been stunted by his poverty and his family. However, there is still something decent
about him that draws us in.

With a script this finely written and such excellent performances, Made in Hong Kong
could have been a great film with nothing more. But every aspect of this film is a work
of fine art. The direction is fabulous, particularly the shots of the industrial tenement
complex where Ping and her mother live. Much of the camera work is reminiscent of
that other Hong Kong auteur of alienation, Wong Kar-Wai. The use of hand-held
cameras and avant-gard editing techniques is definitely something Fruit Chan shares
with Wong, but he has his own voice. One thing I found particularly compelling is
how editing is used as a storytelling device. There is one amazing five (or so) minute
sequence where we get inside Moon's head and understand exactly what he is
thinking without a word of dialogue being spoken. The editing tells the story all by
itself.

It is also necessary to mention the score by Lam Wah Chuen, which is one of the best
original film scores I have ever heard. The music works brilliantly with the film, unlike
many scores, which are either entirely ignoreable or distracting. At times, Made in
Hong Kong is like a musical because of the manner in which visuals, story, and music
are integrated.

I can't recommend this film highly enough. It is one of my favorite Hong Kong films of
all time, ranking up there with Lost and Found and Fallen Angels. See it and then
see it again (and again, and again, and ...).


Reviewed by: mlstein
Date: 02/28/2000

Fruit Chan's debut film was seen by many in Hong Kong as a metaphor for the foreboding that gripped the colony in the years before 1997, and Chan himself has said that it is the first part of a trilogy on the handover--the second part is "The Longest Night." Metaphorical resonances aside, though, under the energetic, sometimes violent surface of "Made in China" is a film of haunting sadness and compassion. The central character, the young, jobless Autumn Moon, is proud of his ability to live by his wits; but he ends up in a world that his wits can't handle. Chan's ingenuity in making this film on a tiny budget with amateur actors is obvious, but one leaves the film overwhelmed with sadness for the lives of the characters--most of all Autumn Moon's, and his despairing inability to help the people he cares about.