Samuel Hui | Breaking the vicious circle of Hong Kong movie industry
Samuel, a post-80s movie industry worker. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Australia, he moved back to Hong Kong and joined the movie industry. He was the assistant director of famous movies such as Project Gutenberg, Enter the Fat Dragon.
“We have to connect to the world to find ourselves. We keep resisting invasion, but more importantly we need to let others feel that this land deserves everything good.”
Journalist: Mehporpor
Translator: Foreign Forces
Photographer: Silver Wolf
My family immigrated to Australia when I was six or seven, but I’ve always considered Hong Kong my roots. When I was little I learned Chinese from TVB dramas, rented Hong Kong movies from Chinatown, and was fascinated by Wong Kar-Wai, Johnnie To, and Stephen Chow. I loved drawing, but realised that I probably couldn’t be a full-time cartoonist as I grew up. I also loved photography and I am used to thinking in pictures. So I thought to myself: why don’t I draw storyboards? Hong Kong movies were internationally renowned, but the movie community in Australia was quite small. Therefore when I decided to get into the movie industry, I moved back to Hong Kong without hesitation.
Hong Kong movies are on its decline.
When I first got into the profession, the movie industry was still thriving with lots of productions. However, since the incident of Fan Bingbing [1], a lot of Chinese investors started to hold back. The tax inspection was very stringent, and the content of the movie had to be politically correct as well. Palace intrigue, pornography, horror movies are all banned. As a result a lot of mainland and Hong Kong movie production companies closed down. Moreover, with the pandemic this year, the movie industry gets even more desolate. Many professionals, even directors and assistant directors who have already shot several movies need to get other jobs such as doing deliveries or driving Ubers.
However, the demise of the Hong Kong movie industry cannot be blamed entirely on external factors. A more fundamental problem is that Hong Kong movies are no longer competitive. Our production cannot attract investors and international attention. Actors such Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok, Chow Yun Fat are still playing characters in their thirties; Donnie Yen is already in his fifties, yet nobody could pick up his baton to continue the glory of action movies; great directors like Johnnie To, Peter Chan, Ann Hui, Tsui Hark are close to retiring, but their knowledge and skills are difficult to pass on to the next generation. Technologically, we are still using antiquated methods in the 90s or even earlier. The generational discontinuity in terms of scriptwriting, actors, production, and technology is a very serious problem.
As a result, the quality of movies are declining; and with fewer investors comes less capital and budget. Even without these environmental and censorship factors, can the Hong Kong movie industry still produce a script of high caliber that can get into the international market? Many senior professionals are still using antiquated script writing methods. While we are still filming The White Storm and Shock Wave with subject matter about the 90s, movies from Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries are tackling more creative materials and getting ahead. Many want to revive Hong Kong movies to their peak years of 80s and 90s, but we are trapped in this vicious circle. Apart from the world-renowned Infernal Affairs and Chungking Express, I literally cannot think of another movie which I can proudly tell others, “This is a Hong Kong movie!” and get a reply, “I have seen it!”
Many people think that the tragedy of Hong Kong movies lies with the constraints from the mainland Chinese censorship and market. A lot of Hong Kong directors opted to produce movies that cater to the mainland market, and then play it in Hong Kong as well. Since I lived in Australia, I’d like to offer another angle to this matter. I think if we want to break this vicious circle, we need a broader perspective.
I often think that if we have the next Wong Kar-Wai or Johnie To, and a quality script, a creative idea, then we can get out of this difficult situation. If we have a good angle, we can take beautiful pictures from a cell phone; if we have a good story, we can make a compelling movie even with low cost. The debut of film master Christopher Nolan was a low-cost movie. A few years ago, there was a low-cost film in Indonesia The Raid which has a very simple plot. It has a tower as the background, and there are action scenes in each storey of the tower. The plot doesn’t have many twists, contains mostly action and yet it went viral in the US and the rest of the world. We can’t just complain about not having enough budget. If we don’t have a good script, we won’t make a good movie even if we have millions of dollars.
In the golden years, even trash scripts could find investments to be made into a movie. However, in this age of limited resources, we need to polish our skills—from reading widely to refining our writing and learning from masters. I turned 30 this year. I think people from 30 to 40 are in this sandwiched generation. Since we entered the profession, we deferred to our seniors, seemingly waiting for them to give us a place or retire. Our advantage is that we live in this age with the memory of the glorious years, and we still have the opportunity to work with directors like Gordon Chan, Soi Cheang, Dante Lam, and Peter Chan who are willing to teach junior directors and pass on their knowledge and techniques. We may not be able to change our generation, but we can be the bridge between the previous and future generation. The mission I perceive for myself is to receive the baton of Hong Kong movies and pass it on to the next generation, giving them space to excel in the industry.
Parasite taught us that we have to aim for the international stage, not just eyeing the Hong Kong and mainland markets. We have to face the fact that Hong Kong culture is fading away. It is the responsibility of movies to preserve the collective memory, but if this collective memory does not resonate with people, then it cannot last long. For example, the movie Mad World talks about a very local Hong Kong topic—subdivided flats. However, except for invoking sympathies of foreign audiences, does it really resonate with them? Many Hong Kong movies talk about the Hong Kong sentiment and memories of the 80s and 90s, but can we tell the Hong Kong story from a new angle? We insist on making a Cantonese movie with a local cast, but Hong Kong culture is diverse and multi-lingual. Can we learn to tell a story in English? Can we cast minority actors? Following the mania of Crazy Rich Asians, can our culture get a foothold in the international market such as Netflix? If we don’t want to speak Mandarin, can we learn Japanese, Thai, or Korean? If we don’t want to solely depend on the mainland, we need to constantly improve ourselves and find ways to survive in adverse conditions, just like what our previous generation has done. We cannot be reserved and standstill. We have to connect to the world to find ourselves. We keep resisting invasion, but more importantly, we need to let others feel that this land deserves everything good.
When I was young I already naively thought that movies are a result of collective effort. Now, I am learning and filming, participating in my first drama movie production. Although I am disheartened by the current situation, there are still many motivated individuals working as a team. There are still a lot of people who want the best of Hong Kong movies. I wish we could one day produce a compelling movie and the world will find out, “oh, this is a Hong Kong production!”
“I am Samuel Hui, I am a HKer.”
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[*1] Fan Bingbing incident: Fan was once the highest-paid celebrity in China. She briefly disappeared from public life for nearly 3 months in 2018, reportedly being secretly detained by authorities, only to apologize later on social media later for tax evasion. She was fined more than US$127M.
This article was featured on Apply Daily English Version. See the article @ https://hk.appledaily.com/feature/20200905/M52JCRPLMVDDDN4MI3KEYGSY5I/