ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW
July 3rd, 2010 by Planet Chocko
Echoes of the Rainbow was the last of a trifecta set of movies that I screened last sunday at the New York Asian film festival. It was a welcome relief to soak in a lighthearted drama as opposed to heavy intense CGI & glorified kung fu slaughterings. Hey, even a Hong Kong phooey kung fu junky like myself appreciates a cornball movie every now & then that Oprah Winfrey would probably endorse. Echoes of the Rainbow was a sweet yet tragic story based on family unity, hope, & perseverance offering a slight jab towards the police powers that be, hailing from England. I hold a sprinkling of sentinental value to this movie because it served as an instant replay for my families background. The film is set in 1960’s Hong Kong in a town called Sham Shui Po on the Kowloon side of the island. My family had also lived in this area as well during that same time period. Simon Yam & Sandra Ng play a couple that live in Sham Shui Po struggling to make ends meet selling shoes out of their wooden shack home. The couple has a teenage son named Desmond & a younger son around 8 years old named ‘big ears’. Life is an everyday hustle for this family with paying the rent while business is slow. Despite the struggles, the Law family is a happy family similiar to “Leave it to Beaver” but Hong Kong style. The movie centers around their sons especially the youngest one who happens to be the narrator of the film with the crackling voice of an 8yr old and all! It sort of reminded me of the ABC hit series, The Wonder Years but with a kid telling his side of the story. ‘Big ears’ dreams of being an astronaut while walking around with a fishbowl on his head. He also is an opportunistic thief in hopes to sustain his fond craving of mooncakes with the double yolk variety! Big brother & little brother are inseparable! They room together in the attic which they humbly call “Beijing” and the downstairs is called “Canton”. Desmond is a great older brother to big ears with his renaissance qualities of speaking fluent english, playing the guitar, great at running track, being a scholar, & possessing knowledge about aquarium fish. Desmond struggles with the dynamics of his relationship with girlfriend Flora after discovering that she comes from a really wealthy family living in a mansion of sorts in the mountains of Hong Kong. Desmond will also have more important obstacles to hurdle in the times to comes. The leave it to beaver family will soon have issues that turn from mole hills to mountains when a typhoon destroys their comfy home & when a local policeman ups the ‘ante’ with his extortion fee. This movie may seem to prove that being cheesy is not easy, but I thought the film had a great wholesome theme of a family that sticks together stays together. Then, there are the harsh realities in life that we must learn to live with and possess the courage to move on from. After watching Echoes of the Rainbow, I have more of a mental & physical insight of what my family went through in those tough times living in 1960’s Hong Kong. Thank you to my parents for their journey in HK and having the smarts to forage into the buffet of concrete jungles, New York City to battle with other types of challenges! Thanks to Simon Yam & Sandra Ng for playing host to such believable parents in the film! This is also one of the first films that I recall Simon Yam playing this type of character. I normally see this dude play good cop,bad cop roles or be a leader in some triad organization! Kudos to Simon Yam for winning the actor of the year at the Hong Kong film awards that took place in April 2010 for his role in Echoes of the Rainbow! This movie is definitely worthy of a viewing if you are into sappy family,feel good then not feel good types of stories! I liked it because it held some sentimental value to me but overall, I thought the movie was charming, cute, & had mass appeal that many can relate to. Can it be that the little kid in the movie reminded me of myself? Not! I definitely didn’t turn into a rocket scientist or an astronaut, but I do come from this far away galaxy called Planet Chocko. Warning about this film,though! There was a cheesy,but touching theme song in the movie that was worthy of a depressing slit on the wrist or two just in case you couldn’t finish the job! Enjoy my young padawans!
–Mr. C (7 out of 10 mooncakes with double yolks for Echoes of the Rainbow!)
Tags: echoes of the rainbow, hong kong 1960, sandra ng, simon yam
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
