Need Recs. for Hong Kong Film Festival

[jkhsu]

There is a Hong Kong Cinema Festival in San Francisco, USA starting this Friday. I was wondering if anyone has recommendations on which of these films are good? I might try to catch one or two. Here's an excerpt from the site:

"As one of the major filmmaking hubs for the Chinese-speaking world, Hong Kong specializes in crowd-pleasing genres such as comedy, romance, historical drama and action. For its debut year, the San Francisco Film Society’s Hong Kong Cinema festival will present recent films showcasing the city’s range of cinematic storytelling with works by both internationally known filmmakers as well as up-and-coming talents."

http://www.sffs.org/Screenings-and-Events/Fall-Season-2011/Hong-Kong-Cinema.aspx

[Gleaves]

I haven't seen the others, but City Under Seige was pretty awful despite the somewhat enticing write-up. Echoes of the Rainbow is on my to-do. I think it is supposed to be good, but sad.

[skylee]

Echos of the Rainbow got a crystal bear award at Berlin a coupou of years ago. I didn't think much of it until I watched it on a plane. It was very touching and tear-jerking (for me).

is also really good (

also).

I also enjoyed Don't go breaking my heart.

[jbradfor]

I would go see Mr. and Mrs. Incredible just because of that still. So it's a total take-off of a Pixar movie, what's wrong with that?

[abcdefg]

Lucky you to have that resource! I have not seen any of these films, but would probably go to the ones that represented genres I generally enjoy. For example, the love movie is less likely to be my cup of tea than the ganster flick.

[imron]

I saw Mr and Mrs Incredible on a recent plane trip. It's not really like the Incredibles (though it does have some similarities). It was an ok film and had a couple of laughs, but if it wasn't for the fact that I was on a flight and had nothing better to do, I probably wouldn't have bothered.

[jkhsu]

Thank you all for the suggestions. Based on Gleaves and skylee's rec for Echoes of the Rainbow, I'm planning to see that one. Also, thanks skylee for the link to the song; it's really good. I especially like the cello part (or is it double bass, not sure).

Also, the person I am going with has already seen Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and said it wasn't that good (imron, I guess you are right. jbradfor, great still, I agree.). She wants to see All About Love so I'm going to see that one as well.

[jkhsu]

Just finished watching Echoes of the Rainbow today. The director, Alex Law was there to answer some questions from the audience. The movie is apparently about his childhood. I especially liked the scenery of Hong Kong in the 1960s. Alex said that the HK government found this one old street that they were planning to tear down but decided to leave it up for a few months for Alex to film. After the success of the film, the community asked for the HK government to preserve the street. So his movie helped save an old street in HK.

Yesterday, I saw All About Love with Sandra Ng (who is also in Echoes of the Rainbow) and Vivian Chow. It was really funny. I would recommend both of these movies.

[skylee]

Yes it is true that the re-development of that street (Wing Lee Street) has been cancelled. You can see it as the power of arts (or international awards of arts) and the success of conservation. But some of the residents / property owners on that street were really unhappy/disappointed about the cancellation of the re-development plan because a) they would have gotten compensation for the re-development; and b) the buildings are really old and not that well maintained. From a distance ...