Part of Hong Kong Cinema film series
Tracey
Guests Expected
Director Jun Li is expected to attend both screenings.
Description
Hong Kong cinema takes a bold and progressive leap forward with Jun Li’s powerful portrait of a middle-aged man recognizing he is transgender. Husband and father Tai-hung is a modest business owner who secretly dresses in women’s clothes. When a childhood friend of his dies, the past comes rushing in, and forces him to confront feelings long buried and a gender identity long denied. Sensitive and nuanced, Tracey tackles all of the ramifications of its protagonist’s decision to live life honestly, showing the impact it has on wife Anne (the legendary Kara Wai, who won a Hong Kong Film Award for her performance) and their kids. Also rare and welcome are the film’s honest and shaded depictions of other LGBTQ characters in Tai-hung’s life.
“Tracey is a very welcome addition to a family of films that in recent years have bravely tackled some of the hottest topics of Hong Kong society and in doing so have succeeded not only in exposing the truth but also in producing good movies … Transgender issues are rarely faced or seen in Hong Kong movies, sometimes through the amiable filter of Chinese Opera, but this film is loud and clear and resolutely delivers a message that is bound to resonate also with audiences in many other countries where LGBTQ issues are weighted down by a tradition, like in China, of strict and old-fashioned family values.” — Adriana Rosati, Asian Movie Pulse
Director Jun Li burst on the scene after winning prizes for his short film Liu Yang He (2017), about a Cultural Revolution-era sex worker and one of her clients. Born in London, he grew up in Hong Kong, studied journalism and communications, and started working as a reporter in TV news. He speaks about his vision of sexual fluidity in Tracey by saying, “What I wanted to convey was that transgender people feel desire, they long for other people, and want to be desired by someone else. I wanted to depict that part of transgender life. So many depictions of transgender people are about surgery, and the body. I wanted a scene that was just about two people who make love. I wanted gender identification to be less important than simple desire.”
Film Details
Language Cantonese, Mandarin
Original Language Title Chui-see
Year 2018
Runtime 119
Country Hong Kong
Director Jun Li
Producer Shu Kei, Jacqueline Liu
Writer Shu Kei, Erica Li, Jun Li
Editor Liko
Cinematographer Tam Wan-kai
Music Otomo Yoshihide
Cast Philip Keung, Kara Wai
Print Source One Cool Film