Review | Cinema Strada movie review: Hong Kong film critic and historian Law Kar narrates his view of the world
- Macau-born titan of Hong Kong’s cultural scene voices Donna Ong’s fascinating documentary that looks at cinema and the city’s post-war history through his eyes
- In a film with a profusion of archive footage and stills, Law describes his intellectual and political awakening. Ultimately, though, he has no great insights
3/5 stars
The life and work of one of Hong Kong’s most respected film critics, programmers and historians is vividly recalled in Cinema Strada, a self-indulgent but nonetheless fascinating look at the city’s volatile political climate, as well as the evolution of cinema in general, mainly between the 1950s and 8os.
Presented by Law Kar himself, who is credited as a co-writer alongside director and editor Donna Ong, the documentary film is less a clear-eyed portrait of its subject than a sentimental memoir that is meticulously supplemented with an astonishing amount of archival film footage and old newsreels and photographs.
Born Lau Yiu-kuen in Macau in 1940, Law pursued a long and winding road to become a titan of Hong Kong’s cultural scene, his eventful career culminating in the presentation to him of a Professional Achievement Award at the 2023 Hong Kong Film Awards.
In an effort to align this very personal project with the times, Cinema Strada opens with a politically minded section that looks back at Law’s early career as the chief editor of an influential Chinese-language publication and his brushes with social activism in the late 60s and early 70s.
That his musings on the role of art in a Hong Kong torn between radical leftist unrest and oppressive colonial rule include a minute-long discussion of Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow-Up is a testament both to Law’s cinematic passion and this documentary’s readiness to embrace the cineaste’s tendency to see reality through art.
