Last weekend, there was a night I couldn't fall asleep (a rare occurrence for me) and I decided to get up and put on a movie. I very rarely watch movies from Hong Kong because they are often romantic comedies or straight up stupid-humour comedies, but the cover on this one suggested more of a contemporary drama (yes, I judged the movie by its cover) so I made an exception. The movie is titled 前度 (aptly translated to “Ex” as its English title).
Right off the bat, I loved the feel of the opening set. The clean, modern architecture of the Hong Kong International Airport s brightly lit at night as travellers hustle and bustle in fast-forwarded motion. Jing Wong’s “You are Everything I Do” (yes, I totally had to Google that!) plays in the background to foreshadow the central theme of the movie. The scene then opens to two couples at said airport. Ah Ping is arriving and his girlfriend Ah See is picking him up. Zhou Yee is about to go on vacation with her boyfriend, Ah Shu. The four of them coincidentally sit down in the same café as Zhou Yee accuses Ah Shu of cheating on her and the audience discovers Ah Ping and Zhou Yee used to be a couple themselves. Mild drama ensues, Zhou Yee is stranded, and Ah Ping and Ah See let her come home with them until she finds a place to stay. An unlikely and imaginably awkward arrangement, I know. But at least screenplay writer and director, Heiward Mak, covers her bases in explaining how this came to be.
This takes place over the span of about 10 minutes, and already I am finding the main protagonist an altogether unlikeable character. Zhou Yee is rude to others unless she needs a favour, in which case she transforms into a spineless suck-up. Her mom is constantly travelling, appears to be irresponsible and is not at all concerned for the well-being of her stranded daughter. As a result, Zhou Yee seems to be searching for guidance from a parent figure, which manifests into her constant yearning for her boyfriends to take her travelling. She is spoiled, emotional and irrational; but I understand that this is actually an accurate portrayal of some young people.
I’ll avoid further discussion of plot in order to not spoil the movie and instead touch on what I liked. All in all, I really liked the indie feel of the music and the aesthetics of the movie, particularly the scenes with close-ups of water flowing (first when the bathtub drains, second when the broken plastic cup leaks). Perhaps a little cliché, but I also liked Zhou Yee’s mom’s line about travelling. Oh, and the closing credits are a collection of what appear to be random people’s submissions of things they remember about past relationships. I really enjoyed this part because it lends realism to the movie (see, break-ups do happen to just about everybody) and because it was interesting to see the range of emotion with which people remember their ex’s (somewhere between utter loathing and rueful fondness). Despite the excessively shrill arguing scattered throughout the movie, I enjoyed the minimalistic package this commentary on past relationships came in and the occasional insights within.
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