A sugar-coated story about conservation in a fast revolving metropolitan city…
“Beautiful things are always fleeting.” Just 1 Day makes its theme very clear from the start. It’s a sugar-coated love story about conservation in a fast-evolving metropolis named Hong Kong.
The story is simple, and mature. Mosaic (Wong Cho Lam), a painter suffering from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), meets his childhood crush Angelfish (Charlene Choi). She works in a bank and is looking for an escape as she clearly understands that money can’t buy her happiness, and their paths cross at primary school reunion. As the clock is ticking, Mosaic finally asks Angelfish to be his girlfriend – for just one day. Along their journey as a one-day couple hanging out in the city they visit a bunch of tourist spots and illustrate a nostalgic sense of faded and famous sites, which live in the collective memories of Hong Kong people.
Not surprisingly, Mosaic eventually dies, a cliched element/plot point/convention found in Hong Kong films such as C’est la vie, mon chéri (1993), Funeral March (2001) and Yesterday Once More ( 2004). It’s not an unfamiliar twist but the key to whether or not it’s a successful plot device is whether or not the audience knows what’s coming but they still want to watch till the end. To ensure this, the leading actor Wong delivers a heartbreaking performance and, along the well-written, subtle and heartwarming script by Erica Li (the director and screenwriter), this all combines to definitely flip audiences’ hearts.
First-time director Li is a very experienced screenwriter, with works such as King of Comedy (1999), 77 Heartwarmings (2021) and Shock Wave 2 (2021), which was also shown in FEFF this year, already on her CV. With big names in the Hong Kong cinema like cinematographer Christopher Doyle and director Herman Yau on the film’s production panel, Just 1 Day is beautifully and cleverly shot, a bit like a tourist advertisement.
It taps also into the past. The demolition of Queen’s Pier [in 2008] was a pivotal moment for a lot of Hong Kong people. Without including any news clippings or old photos of the pier, the film recreates this historical site by city skyline sketches and models made with paper blocks. It also recreates some old-time tea stalls and bakeries with tiny clay artworks.
At first, I thought a lack of actual historical footage might leave younger audiences baffled, as their memories about these events and sites are probably vague, or even non-existent. But I changed my mind when I re-watched the film. As long as the film draws their attention to the issue involved, they might browse online and learn about them – and that’s already a win.
In terms of other, wider issues at play, is the film strong enough to help make Hong Kong love stories (it’s rom-coms and tearjerkers) stand out on a bigger stage? Look at Taiwan. By selling its sunshine and shores, a slow pace of living, the sense of being on vacation, where romance could happen, their rom-coms have been hits at home and abroad. My Missing Valentine, another FEFF film this year, is another example of this.
We’ve seen the Hong Kong skyline in countless local and international actioners, but Just 1 Day it is trying to introduce a different skyline to the audience, one that evokes issues of conservation and memories. Whether it succeeds or not, this is a brave move that should be appreciated. Will it become a style Hong Kong film follows in the future? We shall wait and see.