Completed - CANTONESE, JAPANESE, ENGLISH - Drama, First film - 97 minutes
The White Girl is a tropical-noir love story set in the last fishing village of Hong Kong about a washed-up artist in search of “nothingness” and a girl who is allergic to the sun.
Year of production : 2017 Director(s) : Jenny SUEN, Christopher DOYLE Cast : Angela YUEN, Joe ODAGIRI, Jeff YIU Producer(s) : Ken HUI, Jenny SUEN, Leonard TEE
A typhoon is coming. Pearl Village is fogged in, quiet before the storm. A long bridge to mainland China looms in the distance. The White Girl is allergic to the sun, with skin so white that the villagers treat her like a ghost. Her best friend is street kid Ho Zai, who is trying to grow pearls at his oyster farm. Ho Zai spots Chinese tourists snooping around and follows them to the Village Council, where they meet with the Village Chief. What could they be doing here? One day, The White Girl discovers a suitcase of her late mother’s belongings. She tries on her dresses, puts on her make-up, listens to old audition tapes from when she competed in the Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant. She sneaks out at night to Oyster Cave to sing along to her mother’s voice. She wonders about who this former beauty queen was. She wonders about what kind of a person she herself can be. Artist Sakamoto sees her. No one has ever looked at her that way before. She shows him more of herself. He steps back. They sleep together but don’t touch. They share no language between them except the language of looking. Pearl Village will soon disappear. Where will she go from here? Who will she become? This film is a tropical-noir love story about an artist in search of nothingness who meets a girl who is the answer.
Country(ies) : HONG KONG (CHINA)
BFI London FF 2017 Journey