My maternal grandma or Ma Ma was an avid cinema goer.She would bring us to watch Cantonese operas life when Pak Suet Sin and Yam Kim Fei came to KL to perform operas.
As we lived in town within walking distance of a cinema,we grew up watching Shaw Brothers Wu Xia movies and weepy family dramas and Kung Fu Wong Fei Hong movies.Then it was the 7 sisters headed by Chang Pei Pei,Nancy Sit and Fung Bo Bo.When we were teens the romantic movies of Taiwan were our craze.
So too was the serial soap operas of TVB and Wah Lai Toi and the pop culture of Cantopop of Anita Mui and the 4 heavenly kings.
But what has happened to the creative Cantonese film industry?it has been overtaken by South Korean,Japanese,and Thai movie industry.There is a market for Asian movies as the overseas Asian market stretch from south east Asia,Australia,Europe,America to Canada.
But the plot and cinematography of other Asian nations outshine Hong Kong's creative industry as they used the same old formula that no longer attracted viewers who have global taste and subtitles n dubbing to enjoy Indian movies,South Korean or Japanese movies.
To revive the Hong Kong movie and song industry,they need new blood.they need to try new genres like science fiction or mega adventure thrillers like Indiana Jones.dont stick to police,crime or triad stories that are getting stale.put in current issues relevant to modern society like scam n fraud syndicates or urban terrorism or even romance of tinder,ghosting and gas lighting that appeal to the young they need to invest in foreign scriptwriters n directors from foreign nations like overseas Chinese from south east Asia or Canada n the UK.their worldview is different from Hong kongers and may help revive the industry.look at Abang Adik that is looking at issue of stateless children n their plight.A well written n directed movie will appeal to international audience.look at South Korean themes that are varied from Parasite to Sci Fi Okja and Snowpiercer or horror movie Train to Busan.Hong Kong needs to recruit and train new young talents instead of relying on tried and tested box office stars.they need to take a leap of faith and go into new genres n young directors and invest in new talents.Even China's sci Fi The three bodies show their willingness to venture into new genres.ive great respect for the professionalism and dedication of director and actress of China Jia Ling who was tough to lose 50 kg just to play the role of a female boxer in the movie YOLO.She could resort to CGI to look muscular but her dedication to stagecraft made her go to great lengths to make it look realistic.Reminds me of the total dedication of Hollywood actor Christian Bale who underwent strict dieting to look skeletal in movie The Machinist in which he's an insomniac who is mentally sick.A good actor or actress can't depend on good looks to capture the audience as looks will fade as one ages but ones skill and talent should carry one far.look at Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep or Ian McKellen
Hollywood has embraced diversity in actors n directors and multi cultural narratives appeal to global audiences whether East or West.look at cartoons like Mulan n Kung Fu panda.look at movies like Crazy Rich Asian,Slumdog millionaire and Everything,everywhere,all at once
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