Flower in the Pocket - 32nd HKIFF
Probably the last of the films about children over the last couple of days, it was such a relief to see a film which can finally show the simple side of children nowadays. Flower in the Pocket was a film which, as the director said, try to tell a simple story in a simple way. It was a film about the daily of 2 young boys (who raised by their father). While struggling in living condition, the 2 protagonist nonetheless enjoyed their childhood as much as they could. No added controversy, no mimic to adult behaviour, no judgement on social value, no major ethic/political issues (despite some minor reference to social norm between Malay Chinese and native Malaysian). It is a film about how kids are living their daily life, playing with one another, make new friends, being naughty yet harmless, rushing to school, being punished by teacher to none of their own faults, and of course going with their father. It was a refreshing experience. The 2 child actors probably are the soul of this film as their natural performance capture the audience through out the film. The relationship between the kids and their adult counterpart are warm too, despite minimal dialogue was used.
Having seen so many "heavier" films on different childhood/growing up story, a film with such a straight forward simplicity is always welcome, if not a much needed reminder that, kids should have this right to be simple. The director, Liew Seng Tat, was at the Q&A session. It is surprised to see such young director to produce a work like this, esp nowadays most of the new directors are trying everything and anything that is fancy on screen. He said that while in Berlin film festival, where the film was once shown, 1,000 kids were invited to watch it in the theatre. There was a scene where the protagonists tried to learn to swim in a park, by swing their arms and legs while lying on the ground, pretended to be in the pool. After the host had spoken to the young audiences in the theatre in German, to the Liew's surprise, all 1,000 kids had began to "swim" in their seat by swing their arms, the same way as the boys in the film. He was also touched by the fact that while the kids running around the theatre during the film, most of them knows what is going on in the film and asking in-depth question about the film.
Having seen so many "heavier" films on different childhood/growing up story, a film with such a straight forward simplicity is always welcome, if not a much needed reminder that, kids should have this right to be simple. The director, Liew Seng Tat, was at the Q&A session. It is surprised to see such young director to produce a work like this, esp nowadays most of the new directors are trying everything and anything that is fancy on screen. He said that while in Berlin film festival, where the film was once shown, 1,000 kids were invited to watch it in the theatre. There was a scene where the protagonists tried to learn to swim in a park, by swing their arms and legs while lying on the ground, pretended to be in the pool. After the host had spoken to the young audiences in the theatre in German, to the Liew's surprise, all 1,000 kids had began to "swim" in their seat by swing their arms, the same way as the boys in the film. He was also touched by the fact that while the kids running around the theatre during the film, most of them knows what is going on in the film and asking in-depth question about the film.
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