Port of Call (NYAFF2015)
June 29th, 2015 by Mr. C
(Heartthrob Aaron Kwok after the Port of Call screening at NYAFF2015)
My first foray into the New York Asian Film Festival 2015 was based on a true murder mystery of a 16 year old sex worker.
Port of Call is a story of the murder of a young woman from mainland China who struggles to find herself and her identity. She is not content with the living conditions with her mom and sister in a low income housing project in Hong Kong as the prospects of her wanting more and seeking more will get her skin deep in trouble. This film was a real slow burner and creeper throughout which made me feel uncomfortable at times but I liked what the film was doing to me emotionally and visually. Port of Call really painted a picture of a dark & grim and mostly hopeless Hong Kong as well as offering that slight stroke of hope shining the good of a few individuals trying to make a difference as with the character that Aaron Kwok was playing. The usual heartthrob inducing Kwok played a seasoned but dilapidated detective on the hunt for the truth of the senseless murder of the 16 year old. Loneliness was the common denominator that the movie kept on driving home to the viewers. The cinematographer Christopher Doyle did a great job in working with camera angles and filming behind inanimate objects like a curtain or the shower that layered through to the subject that just made the mood of the scene very secretive and eerie. There were a few graphic blood soaked scenes as well as some sexual content but for the most part, I considered this a quiet film with a lot of drama in unraveling the story and psyche of a troubled individual similiar to peeling an onion only to find multiple layers of bitter tears. The ambient soundtrack added to the transient mood of the film. Aaron Kwok churned in a great performance playing a grey haired & burnt out quirky detective obsessed with solving his crime cases which lead to the downfall of his own relationship with his family. Dare I say the film was a bit charming in ways such as with the scenes involving the grizzled detective and his ex-wife and kid but was mostly over-shadowed by the dark side of Kowloon!
New York Asian Film Festival runs through July 11th. Go get yours!
(Grady Hendrix & Aaron Kwok at the Q/A session)
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