Having lived in Hong Kong myself as an expat for the past four years I have been curious to see this. The story is a bit of a mess and only partly captures the feeling of being an expat here. Nicole is a miserable housewife who wants to go back to the states. Her friend is even more miserable with a cheating husband. The Korean girl he is having an affair with, seems lost and miserable. Losing a child in the street I would imagine is very rare here. Hong Kong is a VERY expensive city to live in and life here for most people is centered around work and making ends meet. Nothing is mentioned either about the changing political situation in Hong kong. The cinematography is gorgeous sometimes, but sometimes not. But often very dark. Overall, not terrible, but a bit of a disappointment.
Reviews
6 Reviews
The Farewell
(I) (2019)
Not real Chinese story
29 December 2019
I'm a Westener living in mainland China since many years. Although my mandarin in not perfect I can easily tell the main characters relatives DO NOT sound like mainland chinese people when they speak. Its very obvious this was written by a Chinese-American. The whole setup that the story is based around (not telling the Grandmother that she's going to die) is as far as I know NOT common in China. My experience is quite the opposite that chinese people are very pragmatic and open about such things as life and death. On top of this the main character is really dull and hard to feel any kind of sympathy for. The story drags and is quite boring. Only people who don't know real Chinese culture could enjoy this.
Atomic Blonde
(2017)
Sad.. and boring
18 November 2017
This movie tries so hard to be cool but fails miserably. Neon colors, 80's pop music sound track, lesbian sex scenes... can't make up for an uninteresting story, uninteresting characters, uninteresting dialogue. Charlize Theron lacks charisma as usual and it's quite obvious she cant fight. Not even Tarantino could have made this into a good movie.
The Foreigner
(I) (2017)
Patriot games meets Rambo with a Chinese touch
4 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Spoilers! Although this film has some nice qualities such as some good action/fight scenes, good acting, interesting theme, its also quite ridiculous in many ways. Watching it I often got the feeling it's really two different movies packed into one. The first one being a father (and ex military of course) avenging his daughter who got killed in a terrorist attack. I always felt that Jackie Chan's acting and fighting style are more suitable for action-comedies and he feels wrong for this film. To see him turn into some kind of mix between Liam Neeson's character in Taken and Rambo is very hard to take seriously. No, I'm not exaggerating here, First blood is an obvious inspiration. Jackie's character is also very one-dimensional. The other story in this film is quite interesting about the internal conflicts inside an Irish terror organization and their dealings with the British government. Unfortunately this part often lacks realism due script flaws. For example, after finding the only surviving terrorist, the police just kills her instead of taking her in for interrogation. But overall the film is a quite enjoyable and entertaining if you leave part of your brain at home.
Connected
(V) (2015)
Not bad for a short
12 August 2017
I've watched quite a few shorts lately and this one is definitely one of the best. Too often many short films, even the award winning ones, are too slow paced, arty, talkative, lack of sense etc. Connected has beautiful cinematography and cool locations. Pamela is perfect as the main character searching for a way to reinvent herself. The topic is very interesting in the modern age of technology obsession with aging, beauty and health.
The Hypnotist
(2012)
Truly awful
28 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Contains some spoilers! With a script based on a best selling crime novel, a Hollywood director (Lasse Hallström), a big budget (SEK 61 million = almost USD 10 million), two star actors (Mikael Persbrandt and Lena Ohlin) you would think the result would be exceptional. It is. Exceptionally bad unfortunately. The peculiar murder story has so many plot wholes it becomes laughable. Trying to explain one will just tear up a new one. For example: What made the murderer follow his mothers instructions and murder his family? Why would a mother instruct her son to stab himself in the chest so that he almost dies? How did the mother get a job at the hospital? Why would the mother suddenly think the hypnotist's son is hers? Absolutely nothing is explained. The main character detective Jonna Linna is incredibly weak and dull. Almost nothing is revealed about his private life and absolutely no character development. Instead way too much time is spent on Mikael Persbrandt and Lena Ohlin's characters and their relationship, which is not relevant at all to the main story. The way the police acts is just stupid. Would the parents of a kidnapped son be allowed to come with the police to the kidnappers house? Would a police officer lower his gun when standing face to face with a kidnapper armed with a shotgun and responsible for the murder of several persons? I don't think so. Several supporting characters and plots are presented without any relevance to the main story. Trust me, this is a complete mess. The fact that this film was Sweden's foreign-language Oscar submission is nothing but a joke. The Oscar academy wisely did not nominate it.
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