[Blog Aloud] Crossing Hennessy / 月满轩尼诗

RtoL: Richard, Ivy Ho, Me and Tang Wei!

I had watched this film earlier this year during its World Premiere at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and frankly I did a facepalm when I heard that there will be a Hong Kong Film Festival back in Singapore, with this film being the opening one as well. Then there was a decision made for the Mandarin language version to be screened here instead, so I thought it will make a good opportunity to compare the two versions. And yes, as I had mentioned in my review, there were the expected nuances, flavour and the wit in its jokes that got lost in translation. But going by the full house response, as well as the almost full house for the other shows, perhaps it is time to give Hong Kong films the respect they deserve, starting with screenings in its original language track. We're not going to be conversing en masse in Cantonese after watching Hong Kong movies, you know?

Ivy Ho and Her Cast @ HKIFF

You can read my review of Crossing Hennessy / 月满轩尼诗 here, some pictures and videos of the opening ceremony of this year's HKIFF where Crossing Hennessy was one of two opening films, and my stumbling upon Ivy Ho and Tang Wei after the world premiere screening at the exact Cha Chan Teng where the film was shot.

Included here are the videos covering the entire proceedings from this evening's Blog Aloud session, and you can tune in to what Ivy Ho has to share about how Tang Wei got selected for the role, recount her challenges in shooting the film as well as her thoughts about the current state of affairs in the Hong Kong film industry!


Part 1 of 3


Part 2 of 3


Part 3 of 3

Crossing Hennessy will open 15 April in Singapore!

For those interested in more of Ivy Ho's works, there's her directorial debut Claustrophobia / 親密 which made its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2008. It's available now on DVD (though the local version has only the Mandarin track available, while the Hong Kong one comes in both Mandarin and its original Cantonese language tracks). You can read my review here, and follow the Tokyo press conference here.