Writer-Director Benny Lau presents a nostalgic glimpse back at Hong Kong in the 90s and one man’s search for love…
Throwing back to the crazy heyday of Hong Kong in the 90’s, Wong Ka Yan is set on the smaller, quiet island of Peng Chau; where a young man falls in love with a cinema ticket seller, setting out on a nostalgic coming-of-age tale of childish summer romance.
Writer-Director Benny Lau presents a film about Chan Chun-Yin (Wong Yau-Nam), a guy who plays guitar and lives on Peng Chau island in 1992. After getting locked in a cinema in Kowloon after a late softcore porn screening (they don’t clean the cinemas after screenings back then in 1992?), Chun-Yin is rescued by the pretty girl that sold the tickets, Wong Ka-Yan (Janelle Sing). They walk to the bus together after their little escapade, and Chun-Yin is evidently in love after she drives away by deciding she is his ‘One’. Following this is a classic caper from the time before personal technology, where Chun-Yin racks up a massive bill by calling every Wong in the phone book, and goes searching on a radio show for his love.
Along the way on his search for love, Chun-Yin encounters the gobby young Wong Ka-Yan (played by Karena Ng), who prompts him along in his actions to find ‘the right’ Wong Ka-Yan. They also meet a guitar teacher, called Wong Ka-Yan. A private detective called Wong Ka-Yan, several housewives, and an old woman who is the grandmother of a supposed Wong Ka-Yan (it’s increasingly obvious that not only is the name Wong Ka-Yan unisex, but everyone and their dog is named it). This literal fanclub of people with the same name is a lovely nostalgic plot device, and Chun-Yin’s fanatical quest which unwittingly brings all these strangers together is one of the best parts about Wong Ka Yan.
The film is a beautiful indie tribute to a Hong Kong that probably doesn’t exist anymore, and if you can look past the plot-holes and the spotty (amateurish) acting, to just enjoy the nostalgia and rose-tinted nature of the film, then Wong Ka Yan is worth your time dipping into one evening. One of the big questions throughout the film is never answered at the end, leaving a big sense of disappointment, though I can’t help feel that director Benny Lau is trying to say something more deeply about the creation of real, human connections in an era when the plot would be solved by searching for 5 minutes on Facebook.
Overall I feel that the acting was okay, and the wide vistas of Hong Kong and the surrounding scenery really add an authentic sense of depth to the film, whilst the zaniness of the plot (calling everyone in the phone book?) that’s purported as a real story is engaging. It’s the connections between people that makes the most sense in the film, from gathering together a fanclub of Wong Ka Yan’s to searching desperately for love with all your resources in a time when there was no technology to help. I still can’t help but think however that the subplot with Prudence Lau (Chun Yin’s caring older sister), would make for a much more interesting film than all this unnecessary chasing across Hong Kong. It’s a rhythmically slow film that coaxes audiences to enjoy the ride, there are lots of flaws in the plot and it’s inherently mediocre, but overall Wong Ka Yan is a nice sentimental film that ‘feels’ more like Hong Kong than anything big-budget coming out recently.