Berlinale 2014, Day 7 (The Midnight After)

We were considering watching “Ieji” today which, incidentally, I ended up not seeing at all and Pixelmatsch will blog about it. Instead, “The Midnight After” was going to be shown in Berlin’s best movie theater, the Zoo Palast, where we also saw “Calvary”. This time, it’s not a premiere but oh we couldn’t pass up another opportunity to go into the Zoo Palast. Hence, the evening of Day 7 only comprised on single film, and it was good that way because another movie after “The Midnight After” would mean a sensory overload detrimental to both films.

The Midnight After
Hongkong/China 2014, Fruit Chan, 124’

Around midnight, in the middle of bustling Hongkong, a group of passengers boards a mini-bus going to Tai Po. The group’s 17 people is as diverse as can be – a few students of the University of Hong Kong, a druggie, a young man talking on the phone with his girlfriend and a young woman talking on the phone with her boyfriend, an arguing couple, a hipster who codes apps, two delinquent youngsters with nothing to do, a mafia member and finally the driver. When the bus reaches the highway exit to Tai Po, they suddenly realize that everybody else is gone – no people, no cars. In Tai Po, they quickly see that the city is empty while strange things are happening and people are dying in random ways. Why did everybody else disappear? What will the group do, and will they even stay together?
Death count: 6. (I think.)

When I went into the film, I had no idea that “The Midnight After” was going to be an utterly strange parody. I was an idiot for thinking that at some point there would be a big revelation of all these strange happenings, something that miraculously explains everything. There were people turning into zombie-like creatures and then into ashes, people completely disappearing, a guy having hallucinations about how a girl has an evil side, people in gas masks speaking Japanese trying to “save” the group, mysteries in the main characters’s past, phone calls suggesting it’s been 6 years since the film started, a containment field suggesting that some nuclear catastrophe has happened etc. etc. The film contained aspects of zombie, horror, viruses But then, pouf, the film was over when I felt like it could have gone on for another 2 hours. As a result, I think this expectation of getting an answer deterred me a little bit for taking the film as it is and enjoying it that way. Luckily I was too obsessed with it, and actually enjoyed myself lots. There is just so much to love in this film.

To be precise, there are two layers of what there is to love about the film. One is what the film is inherently great about, which only really makes up about 30% of it. The other are the homages and references the film pays to, and that may not be understandable for everyone. Just like genre films (of which we saw many at the Berlinale) can only really be enjoyed when you are into the genre, the enjoyment of “The Midnight After” heavily depends on your knowledge and enjoyment of Hongkong and horror films (and those films who are both). In my case, maybe I am just into parodies in general. I barely never watch any Hongkong or openly dislike horror films, but I loved this film. Similarly, I haven’t seen all that many James Bond films or spy films of the type, yet I love “Branded to Kill”. This case is similar, the way this film parodies the genre makes you love the genre and, even more amazingly, makes you love Hongkong. I have never been to the city, but the strong sense of local patriotism flowing through the film is so adorable that I really got into it. My feelings about Berlin are similar – somewhat dirty, somewhat chaotic, very diverse and so bustling with culture – I wish someone made a film about Berlin just like this.

I told Shii and 6451 that this is the no.1 Berlinale film they missed. I still think so, but I realize that my love for the film may be amplified by my love for parodies, for Hongkong trashiness and for confessions of love to a city. Even so, the film still has aforementioned 30% of layer one to offer. It’s a feast for the eyes, amazingly funny and just so incredibly well-written, turning a piece which absolutely makes no sense into a story where happenings at the beginning actually relate to what happen later. All characters are likable losers but each of them is in a different way, and their interactions are genuine and so much fun. My favorite scene is probably the one where Yuki is being asked to get a knife, and she can’t jerk out the knife she wanted of the wood. Instead she has the choice between a tiny knife and a cleaver, and each time she goes to get one, she ends up with the knife totally inappropriate for the task. The second best is the random Tohoku earthquake nuclear catastrophe insertion. (We joked about how we got to see Fukushima after all, having skipped on “Ieji” for the sake of this film.)
At the same time, the movie also never fails to show humanity. The ending where the insurance lady reflects upon her life and how she never really appreciated her mother’s help touched me to the point I almost wanted to cry. This little film showed more humanity and truth than many non-parodies, and that automatically made it become one of the most memorable films I have seen in recent years.

Originally, I had no idea what this film would be – I didn’t know about the web-novel it is based on, all I knew is that I have had Fruit Chan on my radar after seeing “Dumplings”, and I find him to be an extraordinarily good director. I can’t wait to see what he does next.