My first
film for MIFF in 2013, the Hong Kong film “Bends” was a film I almost didn’t
end up seeing. It wasn’t until I did my
final sweep of the festival guide that I noticed the cinematographer of “Bends”
was none other than Christopher Doyle, and as such, the film immediately jumped
onto my “must see” list.
The film
is about a young Chinese man named Fai and the two women who populate his
life. The first and most important is
his wife, who happens to be pregnant with their second child. Being that Chinese law prohibits families
from legally giving birth to more than one child, Fai is doing everything in
his power to ensure his baby will be born over the border in Hong Kong. The other woman in Fai’s life is his boss,
Anna, for whom he works as a chauffeur for.
Anna herself is currently going through troubles of her own, as she has
just been abandoned by her husband (after he appears to have gone bankrupt), and
yet she continually tries to keep up appearances with her very rich friends and
attempts to go about living her wealthy lifestyle (without the funds to afford
it anymore), in an effort to disguise the fact that anything is wrong.
While
the tales being told are very simple, I really enjoyed the leisurely pace of “Bends”. It is an elegantly made film that is anchored
by a fantastic and very naturalistic performance from Hong Kong star, Carina
Lau as Anna. Lau is utterly convincing
as a woman suppressing her sadness and what she knows to be true; that her
husband has left her, whilst trying to maintain her social status amongst her
wealthy friends. It is obvious that
under the façade, that she is hurt and in a lot of pain, but it is as if Anna
feels that if she stops to think about what has happened (and thus deal with
it), she will never restart again, thus she is always on the move, keeping
busy. While it is Lau and her
performance that holds the film together, ironically the story of Fai and his
unborn child is arguably the more interesting of the two. Chinese star Chen Kun fills the role of Fai,
and while there is nothing wrong with his performance per se, it just seems to
pale next to the magnificence of Lau’s work.
What I
did find interesting about “Bends” was the political aspects of the film and
namely the issue of the “one-child policy” that exists in mainland China. It never occurred to me that people would be
regularly trying to cross the border into Hong Kong to give birth, if they were
already blessed with one child. Writer /
director Flora Lau obviously feels condemnation towards the law and believes
that all children should be born with equal rights and while she gets these
points across in her film, she never forces her opinions on the topic on us; it
is all done quite subtly.
As I
mentioned earlier, the main reason I wanted to see “Bends” was due to
Christopher Doyle’s contributions to the film, and he did not disappoint. The film is gorgeous to look at and is very,
very elegant. For mine, this is some of
Doyle’s best work in years. He regularly
shots through surfaces or objects to create a unique perspective or distortion
on the image and as usual is expert in using mirrors to conceive some
stunningly beautiful shots. Doyle also
frames a lot of the film with objects obstructing parts of the image, almost as
though we are a voyeur to a private moment.
He also makes Carina Lau look simply stunning. Granted, Lau is a naturally attractive woman,
but Christopher Doyle has always brought this beauty to the forefront over the
many times he has been lucky enough to photograph her.
The only
problem that I had with “Bends” was that at times I found myself confused at exactly
where certain parts of the story were taking place. I struggled to tell sometimes if we were in
Hong Kong or on the mainland and was often wrong with what I initially
thought. One example of this was early
on when Fai was keeping his wife hidden from prying eyes. I thought they had smuggled her into Hong
Kong already and that was way she was hiding, but she was on the mainland
hiding the fact that she was pregnant.
Simple clarifications like this probably would have made “Bends” more
enjoyable.
Overall,
“Bends” is a modest film but a competent one from first time director Flora Lau. While the film moves at a slow pace, it is
never tedious, thanks mainly to a stellar performance from Carina Lau. Christopher Doyle’s photography is also
(unsurprisingly) first rate, making “Bends” a great way to start my MIFF
journey for 2013.
3.5 Stars.
