Horseplay

Fifteen years ago, Lee Chi Ngai was one of the those filmmakers whose works (in his case, specifically the classics He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father and Lost and Found) reflected the specific local features of Hong Kong through motifs for which ordinary people had an affinity and that thematised the city’s specificity in relation to the search for identity in the period before the handover to China. Whereas some filmmakers have remained thematically faithful to their homeland, Lee has rather floundered without solid ground under his feet. Unfortunately, his return to the comedy genre is pure escapism that is absolutely detached from reality; and it doesn’t even take place in Hong Kong. The theme of thieves and scammers on the hunt for valuable artefacts in Europe is not unknown in Hong Kong cinema (Yesterday Once More, Once a Thief), and the film crews have even visited Prague a few times (Enter the Eagles, Armageddon). This time, however, the kitschy “heart of Europe” is not merely an exotic backdrop, but alongside the grimacing caricatures, it becomes part of the style of this, well, horseplay. (12/21/2014)