Isabella (Hong Kong, 2006)
Edmond Pang Ho Cheung is one of the new generation of directors emerging in Hong Kong, renowned for his witty and entertaining works which all met with critical acclaim. His latest Isabella entered the 56th Berlin International Film Festival as the only Chinese-language film. Thanks to Peter Kam’s music which enriches the film’s nostalgic and exotic mood, Isabella successfully captured the Silver Berlin Bear for the Best Film Music in February, 2006. Stylized camera angles and sentimental music in Isabella reminds us of Wong Kar Wai’s movies, but like other Pang Ho Cheung movies, Isabella also offers an end twist and a subtle connection to larger social or historical issues.
Chapman To (Initial D) and Isabella Leong (Bug Me Not) play father and daughter in the film, and they deliver an ambiguous and sophisticated relationship that is most intriguing. The story is set in Macau on the eve of handover when Macau people are expecting a new era to come. Policeman Shing (Chapman To) also turns a new page in life when he meets the 17-year-old girl Yan (Isabella Leong), who claims to be his daughter.
To Shing, starting anew in the present is a confession of the past. He tries to redeem his sins against Yan’s deceased mother (JJ Jia) through Yan, whereas Yan attempts to re-live her mother’s life vicariously, through a new connection with her long-lost “father”. The dilemma between past and present subtly echoes with other elements in Isabella. When Macau is looking forward to start anew after a century’s Portuguese colonization, viewers will enjoy in Isabella a labyrinth-like Macau that resembles a southern Europe town, abundant in her former sovereign Portugal.
The movie guest-stars multiple award-winning actor Anthony Wong Chau Sang and Steven Cheung from Boy’z, and co-stars new Mainland actress JJ Jia and Derek Tsang, famous actor Eric Tsang’s son who co-writes Isabella with Pang. Isabella is also a breakthrough for Chapman To as it marks his first leading man role, as well as his first project as a producer, with his new company he co-founded with Pang.
https://youtu.be/82tVTrR86ik
Workshop Coordinator: Antony Wong
