After seeing nothing but water and hearing nothing but plinky-plonky music in the first 30 seconds, the quick-fire clicker could be fooled into discarding this video as one of those annoying abstract offerings with no real cinematic substance. We’ve got time on our hands though, so we persevered, and we’re bloody glad we did!
Don’t get us wrong, it’s still kind of abstract, but as other elements of the city come into the shot and the music kicks it up a notch, the simply named “Hong Kong” film becomes an incredibly captivating and stunningly crafted mirror of numerous sides of the city.
From sea snakes and bull frogs to the Happy Valley races and old people eating ice cream, there’s just something about this short from Grégoire Verbeke that seems so much more Hong Kong than most. He’s Belgian, but don’t let that put you off.
Warning: It also ends on the watery shots, but by that point you’ll be won over – we promise.
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