San Francisco Asian American Film Festival - FOG

Last week Adam and I went to watch FOG, playing at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival. Pat and Stephen (who were the producers) had sent out an invitation for it, and I also found out that Brian Yang, a friend of my brother's from high school, was involved in it, so we thought it'd be cool to check out.

Set in Hong Kong during the ten year's anniversary of the handover, the story centers around Wai, a young man whose memory has been erased in an accident. Having no knowledge of who he is, he tries to piece together his identity through photographs, through video footage taken by friends, through the recollection of family members and others from his past.

The story unfolds slowly, moving at the subtle pace of fog, the vague shapes of Wai's past gradually coming into view. We learn that he was a less than model student, disrupting his class with juvenile antics, that he partied a lot with his hard-drinking friends, sometimes going out of control, that he had a girlfriend, but apparently had mistreated her, as she no longer wants anything to do with him.

As he struggles to reconnect to his past, Wai becomes increasingly disengaged with the present: wandering aimlessly from place to place, absently going through the motions of his job, losing himself in the haze of drink and drugs. He moves through his life in a state of limbo, insubstantial, a specter.

This purposeless meandering comes to a head when he is suddenly faced with a troubling revelation from his past. Wai is forced to make a crucial choice: will he continue with his old ways, reckless and irresponsible, or forge a different path? No longer able to rely on the memories of others to construct his identity, he must choose for himself what sort of person he will be. Whether he succeeds in this journey remains unanswered at the end. The viewer is left to decide what lies in store. But despite his painful loss, the stripping away of his history, Wai is given something few of us ever have: a chance to start anew, to rectify one's past missteps and begin a better life. FOG is a deeply poignant, melancholy film, but ultimately a hopeful one, offering a glimmer of light to move beyond the painful traces of the past and towards a brighter future.Following the screening, we went to the alivenotdead afterparty, where we saw Pat, Paul, Kai, and a bunch of other RT/wushu folks - it was like a mini-version of the Halloween party. We also met Kit Hui, the director, and Terence Yin, who played Wai. Adam, who had some issues with the film, ended up grilling both of them in his quest to find answers. It was great having the chance to hear from the filmmakers themselves, and while I don't think it changed Adam's opinion of the film (he described it as "Total Recall with no action"), it gave us both some thoughtful questions to ponder on the drive back home.