Mr.Cinema

C

Directed by Samson Chiu Leung Chun

Of the errors committed by filmmakers which can derail an otherwise promising film, excessive ambition is likely the most destructive. Indeed, many a film has been undone by s director's refusal to edit, tone down, or simplify all sins that "Mr. Cinema" director Samson Chiu Leung Chun is unfortunately quite guilty of committing. Oh, and not showing up to the set with a decent script. He's guilty of that one, too.

Cinema technician Zhou (Anthony Wong), lives in Hong Kong with his wife and his young son but pines for the socialist utopia only a few miles north of the border. His dedication to socialism is shared by a small cell of fellow devotees who, like him, live in grinding poverty as they attempt to eek out a socialist existence in the booming metropolis. As Zhou son Luk (John Sham) grows older and begins to challenge his father's ideological leanings, Zhou is forced to consider the effect of his dedication to the socialist cause on his son and his long suffering wife.

"Mr.Cinema" fails primarily due to the apparent absence of a script which causes the story that the director obviously intended to tell to get lost in a muddled heap of criss-crossing, transgenerational intrigue that is at once confusing and pedestrian. Zhou's struggle to remain committed to the socialist cause even as his friends and neighbors find success in the new capitalism of Hong Kong, a dynamic that had some real potential, is treated in a rather ham fisted way, Zhou being presented as a rather naive, simple minded believer who never questions his ideological beliefs even as his family suffers in poverty alongside him. The rationale for Zhou's patriotic fervor towards the communist motherland, even after China abandons its communist ideology and embraces the free market, is also never truly explained nor is the internal anguish he likely feels as he sees a lifelong commitment to a failed ideology crumble before him.
The interplay of the actors in "Mr.Cinema" is also puzzling. Anthony Wong, probably too used to playing grizzled cops in Johnnie To films, gives a performance rich in restraint while John Sham breaks out the histrionics, making Luk an unlikeable, hyper excitable character that grates on the nerves rather than currying empathy. Teresa Mo is great, as always, and her presence alongside Wong save "Mr. Cinema" from being completely devoid of merit.
The sloppiness of "Mr.Cinema" is disappointing since its director obviously had a clear idea of the type of film he wanted to make, one that was a sort of ode to a time and place that has disappeared, to Hong Kong as he probably remembered it from his youth. Chiu Lung Chun's empathy for his characters is palpable and it is obvious that this is a story that was close to his heart. It's just a shame he couldn't have told it any better.