Watching less films (in my case very few!) has a few side effects. The first one is I get picky and I’d only see films that are very high on my “to watch” list, which in turns usually means that I find these films good but not overwhelmingly so. The second effect is that most of the films you see linger in your mind much more (which was the case both for “Amour” and “45 Years”, my silent airplane films). That makes sense – if you only see like 10 movies per year, you’d remember them more (and potentially more fondly) than if you see 200. Case in point, I still vividly remember “Match Point” and how much I loved the film back in the day, even though it is not likely something I’d enjoy today.
This film is a little special. I saw it on an airplane too (and again I decided to watch something not so important because airplanes are just not the right environment). I also had to pick something with subtitles so I didn’t have to pay too much attention to listening. I don’t even remember what made me decide on this one – it was probably Sam haha. In this case I am glad that I am currently experiencing a drought in films, because “Mad World” was the greatest surprise coming out of this drought, and it’s wonderful that my mind hasn’t all forgotten about it (which it probably would have at my almost 200 films per year rate).
Mad World
This film is so so obscure that back when I researched the film shortly after I saw it, it took me awhile to even find it online (but now I see that googling “mad world film” actually gives you the right title). It must have gotten some recognition at least, having been chosen as Hongkong’s submission for the foreign Oscar that year, but personally I am not even sure if it was popular at festivals. (There is no gay person involved.) Personally, this is my Hongkong version of “Ship Bun”.
Maybe because it was so obscure I have a special place in my heart for this little film. Eric Tsang (aka aformentioned Sam) is the reason why I picked the film, and he is an amazing actor as always. The kid who plays the main character does a really good job opposing him, and raising the taboo subject of mental illness is something I always want to see in an Asian film. It’s long overdue. It’s a sweet, mostly depressing film about two characters whose real tragedy consists of holding onto and staying true to their most loved family members, even as all of society (and their other worthless family member) is rejecting them. This kind of loyalty strikes a real chord with me and made me feel so strongly for these characters. (The good acting also helped.)
In the meantime I learned that the film ran at the TIFF which gave it a few lovely reviews like this one, heck even ImDB only has well-written reviews of it. I hope to actually be able to see a few more jewels like this at my own first TIFF this year!