Wow! Made in Hong Kong is an amazing, stunning film, one of the best I've seen it
quite a while. In fact, I enjoyed it so much after seeing it the first time that I went
back the next day to see it again!

Sam Lee is Autumn Moon To, a poor junior high dropout who collects debts for
Brother Wing when he's not hanging around aimlessly. He is not really a triad
member, as he himself points out, because he is unwilling follow just any order.
While he is willing to do some jobs, he does not want to risk his life or kill others. He
lives in an industrial looking apartment complex with his "junior" Sylvester, a mildly
retarded man who Moon takes cares of, and his mother. Sylvester's family denies
knowing him so Moon is his only caretaker and protector.

On a debt collection assignment, Moon and Sylvester meet Ping, a sixteen year old
girl who has chronic kidney disease and will die without a transplant. They begin
spending time together and soon fall in love. Near the beginning of the film, a
teenage girl named Susan Hui jumps to her death in front of Sylvester. He picks up
the two blood soaked letters next to her body. Though neither Moon, Sylvester, nor
Ping know Susan, they keep returning again and again to the haunting fact of her
death.

Do not be mistaken, Made in Hong Kong is not a tearjerker romance with a dying
female lead nor is it a film about people trying to uncover the hidden mystery behind
a teenage suicide. Indeed, it would be hard to come up with a one-sentence
description of what the film is "about". It is about being young, poor, and alienated in
a society that reveres wealth, it is about family relationships (both Ping and Moon
have been abandoned by their fathers), and it is about many other things as well.

The performances in this film are nothing short of amazing, particularly Sam Lee as
Moon. Moon is an incredibly complex character, part triad bully, part wounded child,
part caring adult. Sam Lee expresses all of these aspects brilliantly, making us feel
for Moon even when we don't like what he is doing. He is the product of a society that
has given up on him too soon. His potential for being a complete human being has
been stunted by his poverty and his family. However, there is still something decent
about him that draws us in.

With a script this finely written and such excellent performances, Made in Hong Kong
could have been a great film with nothing more. But every aspect of this film is a work
of fine art. The direction is fabulous, particularly the shots of the industrial tenement
complex where Ping and her mother live. Much of the camera work is reminiscent of
that other Hong Kong auteur of alienation, Wong Kar-Wai. The use of hand-held
cameras and avant-gard editing techniques is definitely something Fruit Chan shares
with Wong, but he has his own voice. One thing I found particularly compelling is
how editing is used as a storytelling device. There is one amazing five (or so) minute
sequence where we get inside Moon's head and understand exactly what he is
thinking without a word of dialogue being spoken. The editing tells the story all by
itself.

It is also necessary to mention the score by Lam Wah Chuen, which is one of the best
original film scores I have ever heard. The music works brilliantly with the film, unlike
many scores, which are either entirely ignoreable or distracting. At times, Made in
Hong Kong is like a musical because of the manner in which visuals, story, and music
are integrated.

I can't recommend this film highly enough. It is one of my favorite Hong Kong films of
all time, ranking up there with Lost and Found and Fallen Angels. See it and then
see it again (and again, and again, and ...).