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Listening to your friend's latest drama, do you ever think, I could make a movie / web-series / TV show about you. Most of the time, one really should not. What Angie Chen is able to do in i've got the blues is to extend beyond the voyeuristic perspective of a witness in the biography of Wong Yan-Kwai, and step straight into the frame. Almost in a supporting role is her adamant curiosity about her friend. How, she wonders, does this man live? "I've known you for years," she says, "and yet I don't really know you." "Me too," he answers, "after all these years, I still don't know much about myself." We want badly to know what it is to live someone else's life, to understand their everyday-ness, to understand their being, their perspective. This yearning is central in i've got the blues. It's as if Chen, Yank, Yank's daughters... they are all in the shadow of this yearning, to the question why. Why do you live like this? Why do you see life like this? Yank Wong is hard to pin down, but this is the personality and character he cultivates. He rents instead of owning, he leaves, he quits, he stops, and yet at the same time, he owns his space in the apartment he rents; he welcomes the people he left; he quits with plenty of reason; he stops when it is time for him, according to him, to stop. The man lives in this doubleness, at some point taking over Chen's role and creating footage with a go-pro. i've got the blues is a painting on yearning and being.  Photo by Yank Wong of his daughter being interviewed by director Chen and crew, surrounded by murals he painted. i've got the blues is screening next at Vancouver International Film Festival on October 4th at 6:30PM and October 5th at 12:45PM. Director Angie Chen and Producer Pamela Lay will be in attendance. It will then screen in Busan International Film Festival on October 13th at 10:00AM, October 16th at 10:30AM and October 19th at 2:30PM. All three screenings will be at Megabox Haeundae. i've got the blues is part of the HKIFF is part of the HKIFF collection, a new and unique initiative to coordinate and direct the HKIFFS’ expanding scope of services to filmmakers Comments are closed.
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