Movie Review: 26 Happiness Rd./廿六大吉

When Yung Yung and I have dinner, I think this is how people see us.

This was the second film I watched at the HK Asian Independent Film Festival.

It stars my friend Yu Yung Yung (so let’s not bother over obectivity) as a young woman returning home to Hainan Island after living in Beijing for several years. Her father owns and runs a brick factory where many of her childhood friends are employed.

Like Fog, 26 Happiness Rd./廿六大吉 is definitely an independent film, and as such utilizes a different set of standards for pacing, plot, and dialogue.

The film opens with a protracted series of shots depicting the young woman’s return home. It certainly helps that Hainan is so photogenic (as is Yung Yung, obviously), so that these long shots allow one ample time to really look at the scenery.

I was pretty mesmerized by the blue sky. I forget sometimes that the sky can be blue.

*The scenes of her interacting with her father and his employees are also very engaging, especially for their matter-of-fact portrayal of life in a very small town.*

It was odd for me to watch a film acted by a friend on one hand and a bunch of people I’d never seen before on the other. It made it more difficult for me to see Yung Yung as a character because I know her, and having never seen the others it was easier for me to see them as characters instead of actors.****

But she does a good job, and she convinced me. It probably helped that she was speaking something other than Cantonese or English.

The other actors were very good as well. I especially liked the young man who played her friend. He seemed very realistic to me, and I hope he is either really a Hainanese brick maker who never acted before or some great actor who can’t make bricks to save his life.

The man who played her father was excellent as wel l; if he isn’t really a father, then he’s a phenomenal actor.

The story is fairly straightforward, but this allows the characters, the story and the film itself to breathe. Most of the film takes place in Hainan, where life is much slower than Beijing, and the film reflects this. Everything that happens to the characters is very real, normal, and even plain.

Yet this confers great strength on the narrative, because it makes the film so close to reality.

The film also managed not to bore me, which is no small accomplishment!

***26 Happiness Rd./廿六大吉is a film that captured my attention because it tells a very human story, and because I’m getting to an age where I can understand these stories from a personal perspective.*

If I was watching  DVD, by myself, at home, with the door locked, I probably would have cried. A little.

I enjoyed the film for a lot of reasons and I was very, very glad to see a film whose acting, cinematography, and narrative are all commendable.

It’s nice to know that people are making good films, and I hope this trend both continues and grows.