Hamilton Does It, and a Movie of Course

Okay... So just in case you missed it, and slept in like I did - here are the results. Closer than I would have imagined. And on the final lap, would you believe?

F1 News > Hamilton is World Champion!

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On a tenuously related note, I happened to watch a movie filmed in Macau last night. See, Macau hosts, or hosted I'm not sure which, a junior formula race which holds a lot of prestige and had been the race to watch for the future of F1. I think Michael Schumacher was the last racer of note to win it. But anyway the movie is not about racing and follows a pretty formulaic set up for Cantonese films, as follows:

1) Find a Cantopop singer who hasn't made too many films before, if any.

2) Write a script which gives the singer ample opportunity to showcase their singing talents. To make the movie really score with audiences, make the plot about a singer in some way. Note that this plot is not necessary.

3) Title the movie after the singer. This will put bums in seats. Even after the singer's star has faded, the movie will serve to generate new fans as younger audiences age.

And so it was. Yi sa bui lai or Isabella if you try to sound it out using Spanish phonemes, stars Isabella Leong the requisite Cantopop singer and Chapman To the actual talent. I just want to say that I hope this film is in no way autobiographical for Leong. Otherwise, ouch. This wasn't her first film, and she seems to have an acting ability, but I say that To is the actual talent because that's his career.

I'm not going to do a chronology of this film. Instead, just broad strokes to illustrate the plot. Apparently, Macau was rife with gangsters and smugglers before the handover in 1999, but that might just be Central Committee propaganda for all I know. To plays an ex-cop who becomes a smuggler to make a decent living and still live the high life. Leong plays a teenager who has just lost her mother, never knowing her father, and who is prone to embellishing stories. She ends up with To, and somehow realizes that he is her long lost father, or so she is lead to believe. To, for his part, believes it at first too but when he discovers that he is not, he goes along with it anyway to protect the real father who is also his boss. The film focuses on the growth of the relationship between To and Leong, and the dialogue is not really important. I actually liked the pauses because it allowed the soundtrack to take over. A close imitation, you might even say rip-off of Vladimir Cosma's Sentimental Walk is repeatedly heard throughout. Or at least the opening riff.

To realizes that he is going to prison, and must somehow explain to Leong that they are not going to run away together which is what she believes. He nonchalantly explains to her, over a bowl of noodles that he is not her father and that he's got to go down on the charges. Leong is crushed, but she gets over it pretty quickly I guess because she decides to wait for To to be released from prison. The film doesn't go that far, but at the end of it Leong is no longer a girl trying to find her identity. She has become comfortable with who she is. Anyway, I liked the music and the scenery around Macau.