Hong Kong society experienced an unforgettable year in 2003. Peter Chan Ho-Sun, Samson Chiu Liang-Ching, James Yuen Sai-Sang, Sandra Ng Kwan-Yue immediately turned this year into history, "Golden Chicken 2" described 2003 in detail with the gesture of memory. After the labor pain, with the compassion of the central government, Hong Kong people have tasted the sweetness. This year immediately became the memory of Kam played by Sandra Ng in 2046, a year that Hong Kong people cannot forget, so far away and worth remembering. In fact, the so-called memorable theme has appeared in "Golden Chicken" (2002) or other Peter Chan's films. The nostalgia for the glorious days of Hong Kong, the so-called post-colonial complex, is inadvertently revealed in the film. 2003 was the most threatened year for governance since the establishment of the Hong Kong government. The SARS campaign was full of mistakes, the tactical mistakes in promoting the 23 Articles, and the "July 1" parade. The unforgettable pain, "Golden Chicken 2" has the intention to turn this pain into a long past history, and Hong Kong has become better and better after 2003, reaching the end of fifty years of unchanged 2046 time, once again become a paradise on earth.
Although the film has an optimistic vision for the future, it's just a virtual imagination, full of the naïve imagination of the creators. In such an illusory future, compared with the real past, including the 2003 that the audience experienced personally, this real it feels that there is actually quite a space for realism, but "Golden Chicken 2" is always a comedy, and Sandra Ng still uses her exaggerated acting to handle this role, which made the first half of the film describing 2003 seem absurd. The performance, which includes a group of stars, also has that kind of absurdity. Anthony Wong Chau-Sang who plays the owner of a cornered Hong Kong-style café; Ronald Cheng Chung-Kei, an idiot who remembered his wife and became mad; Dicky Cheung Wai-Kin, a crazy veterinarian; and Leon Lai Ming, the hero of SARS, are all full of black humor with the flavor of UFO production in the past. Each character has an obvious direction from the creator, but the effect is not profound, and there are not many touching places. Maybe it is because the creator has already turned this year into a distant history and maintained a sense of distance. So that the film will not be promiscuous, and the audience will not be forced to face the pain of this year.
On the contrary, the second half of the film tells about the reunion between Kam and his cousin Quincy played by Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau, but it's full of moving points. Especially going back to the golden years described in "Golden Chicken", Quincy's identity has a clear direction. Quincy came to Hong Kong as a passer-by, but because of this place, he rose to prosperous times, and he had been beautiful and lost, like "Comrades, Almost a Love Story" (1996) (directed by Peter Chan), Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk play Li Xiao-Jun and Li Qiao. In the end, Quincy returned to the native Kam, but his passer-by mentality has not changed, but Kam and the passer-by have already developed a subtle relationship. At the moment of separation, she said that they already have child, and the relationship has long been unknowingly, it blossomed and came to fruition. Quincy had a moment of awakening, and realized that his identity as a visitor had already been combined with Kam and the place he thought he had borrowed temporarily, and it became difficult to part. Confession is the most touching part of the film. Compared with 2003, the film has a deeper understanding and cherishment of the history before 1997. The so-called unforgettable is actually that time, more than the "history" of 2003 with a distance.
As for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in 2046, the film invited Andy Lau Tak-Wah to play the role. There is another allegory to Hong Kong Cinema, especially when co-production films became a trend, "Golden Chicken 2" still retains the uniqueness of Hong Kong Cinema, which can be seen in the film. Is it a blessing for Hong Kong Cinema or something else?
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)
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