Looking Back 32nd HKIFF - Peter Greenaway with Nightwatching

It was a fascinating experience to see one of the world renowned directors face to face at the HKIFF. This year, it was to see Peter Greenaway after viewing his latest work, Nightwatching. A film about a famous Dutch painter in the 17th Century, Rembrandt van Rijn, his life and his work of "night watch". It was a visually beautiful film with the fact that many scenes are created (with excellent production design) almost like a theatre play or indeed, a beautiful painting. Never a follower of Greenaway eventhough his name was famous enough to be adored, I found the lighting of the film was probably the most fasincating part. Many of the scene are litted so beautifully that, it can compare to those theatre oriented films, such as Carlo Saura's work. Indeed, at the Q&A, Greenaway highlighted the fact that how Rembrandt had such a talent of creating artifical lighting to make his protaganists in his painting looks good. If Rembrandt is alive today, then he must be a film director. Storywise, it was probably easy to follow by Greenaway's standard although the heavy accent from different characters makes understanding what's happen on screen quite difficult. Yet, the main subtext of how Rembrandt used his work to mock his subjects had never been more clearer.
Indeed, one would think such a piece of cinema may belong to musuem which allows viewer to appreicate from a pure artistic angle, rather than follow the conventional way to try understanding the story. And that, will allow you to appreicate the film from a different angle, and a different level.