Comments on: Thoughts on SPARROW

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:43:51 +0000

I thought Sparrow was a wonderful film, easily one of To’s best. It’s not really worthwhile to nitpick the whereabouts of the passport during the final sequence because the film is about style. This is not just a love letter to the city of Hong Kong or even classic European noir films, it’s a love letter to cinema itself, and the film does a lot to show the possibilities of the medium from a purely visual and emotional experience.

As for as Simon Yam’s performance, few actors have ever looked so calm, cool, and assured in front of a camera as Simon. He still rocks after all these years.

By: glenn

glenn — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:52:47 +0000

I loved Sparrow but felt some confusion as well during that final rainy sequence.

Still, the pleasures for me with Sparrow are the same as those with watching the old Shaw Brothers “weepies” and musicals from the 1960’s: seeing “Western” film styles transplanted to Hong Kong and updated and spun into new directions.

In To’s case, it’s the films of Jacques Demy as he mentions in the interview as well as other French gangster films — he’s going to remake Le Circle Rouge supposedly.

I guess I’ve been watching Hong Kong films long enough now to share your surprise at how far Kelly Lin has come — and what about Simon? Some of the first HK genre films I watched were Cat. III things with him years ago.

I kept wondering how Sparrow would have played with Lau Ching-Wan in Simon’s role? (I watched Mad Detective thinking how perfect Lau was for that role and how no one else in modern HK could have played that part).

By: Audrey

Audrey — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:02:20 +0000

Lucky Dessert is my favorite place to go for desserts when I’m in HK. The mango rice roll is to die for. I had no idea that Lillian Ho was connected to it. I’d heard that she was working behind the scenes at EEG. Didn’t they hire her a couple of years ago to help Isabella Leong?

By: m

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:50:02 +0000

I had the chance of seeing Sparrow when I was in Hong Kong last July. Sparrow and A city without baseball were the only Hong Kong films available at the time (Red cliff came out the day after I left!). I must say I loved Sparrow. I was grinning the whole time I was watching the movie. Maybe my pleasure was heightened by the fact that I was a tourist and to the excitement of seeing this movie on a big screen in Hong Kong. It was just heaven. What surprised me the most was how charming Simon Yam was.

As to your challenge to To, I wonder what actors you think would be suitable to portray you all.