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You're viewing the Frameline33 (2009) archive held in 2009. Explore this years festival

Soundless Wind Chime

Directed by Kit Hung2009Hong Kong/Switzerland/Germany110 mins

The busy streets and cramped alleyways of Hong Kong provide the stage for an intense affair between two lonely, isolated men. Ricky, a waiter and delivery boy from Beijing, lives with his aunt, a prostitute who passes the time between clients by spewing criticism at her timid nephew. Swiss-born Pascal picks pockets and juggles for cash. After running away from his sexually abusive roommate, Pascal wanders aimlessly before finding a friendly face — and eventually a warm bed — with Ricky.

Before long the two young lovers get an apartment together, where they share passionate nights and delightfully mundane mornings — until a tragedy leaves Ricky more isolated than ever. Haunted by his all-too brief flirtation with happiness, Ricky heads to Switzerland in search of a tangible connection to his dearly departed. There he meets Ueli, an antiques shopkeeper who bears an uncanny resemblance to Pascal. In the empty fields of a Swiss village, Ricky and Ueli try to forge a relationship. But Ricky can’t escape the ghosts of the past: his ailing mother needs him in Beijing and the memory of Pascal lingers.

Director Kit Hung’s beautifully photographed, non-linear debut feature captures the intensity of young love in a bustling city, but finds its true magic in love’s wake: when memory is as palpable as a steady breeze.

In the short Scent, a young man takes in the various smells of the city, in the hope of replacing (or is it remembering?) his lover's scent.

This film is a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

Quick links
Director
Kit Hung
Year
2009
Country
Hong Kong, Switzerland, Germany
Running Time
110 mins
Language
English, Cantonese, Mandarin, & Swiss German
Section
World Cinema, Frameline Completion Fund
Program Note Writer
Jonathan L. Knapp