DIRECTOR: ANASTASIA TSANG
STARRING: SYLVIA CHANG, SIMON YAM, CECILIA CHOI, HENICK CHOU
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 43 MINUTES
Devastated by the loss of her skilled neon sign-making husband, a wife decides to carry on his unfinished dream of making neon signs.
STARRING: SYLVIA CHANG, SIMON YAM, CECILIA CHOI, HENICK CHOU
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 43 MINUTES
Devastated by the loss of her skilled neon sign-making husband, a wife decides to carry on his unfinished dream of making neon signs.
FILM REVIEW:
(This review contains spoilers.)
“If there’s a sign, then there’ll be business.”
A Light Never Goes Out is the International Feature submission for Hong Kong. The neon signs over Hong Kong has greeted locals and tourists for the better part of a century. Unfortunately it’s on the brink of extinction as the government has deemed them illegal due to safety and environmental concerns. Manufacturers originally made the glass with lead to soften it more easily with a gas flame, but health concerns caused by the lead has forced businesses to look for more environmentally safe soft glass options. The systematic removal of these signs over the past decade has changed the landscape of Hong Kong. The illuminating, bright, electrical streets are now no more.
The film follows Auntie Heung, the elderly wife of a master neon sign craftworker, Bill, who passed away six weeks ago. Heung is grieving and spends her days feeding coins into the slot machines of an empty arcade game hall. Her daughter Prism, who lives with her, is mostly absent and is distant since the death of their loved one. Suffering from insomnia, Heung wanders around her apartment doing laundry at night and cooking for dinners for three, including a meal for her deceased husband.
One day, she finds a set of keys inside Bill’s pants which says “Bill’s Neon.” Thinking that her husband closed the business several years ago, she is shocked to discover that he’s been secretly continuing the business alongside his young apprentice Leo for all of these years. After being talked into keeping the business running, Heung decides to continue in her husband’s footsteps and recreate some of the best giant neon signs that were forced to close due to the government crackdown. After paying all of the debt, with the help of Leo and crowdfunding, Heung is on a mission to fulfill her husband’s dying wish.
Hong Kong’s colourful neon signs were once a glittering symbol of the city’s vibrancy. They’ve since been replaced with cheaper options like Led lights. Vanishing alongside these jewels are their creators, these passionate artists who created an artform that has slowly disappeared. Steeped in this atmosphere of nostalgia and loss, the film is a heartfelt love letter to these forgotten craftsmen as well as a bygone Hong Kong. The disappearance of a place inscribed with light is paralleled with Heung’s loss of a husband.
A shooting star can represent the dead, but even though they’re no longer here on earth their light will forever shine bright and illuminate the sky like the neon lights that will never go out.
REVIEW: B-
(This review contains spoilers.)
“If there’s a sign, then there’ll be business.”
A Light Never Goes Out is the International Feature submission for Hong Kong. The neon signs over Hong Kong has greeted locals and tourists for the better part of a century. Unfortunately it’s on the brink of extinction as the government has deemed them illegal due to safety and environmental concerns. Manufacturers originally made the glass with lead to soften it more easily with a gas flame, but health concerns caused by the lead has forced businesses to look for more environmentally safe soft glass options. The systematic removal of these signs over the past decade has changed the landscape of Hong Kong. The illuminating, bright, electrical streets are now no more.
The film follows Auntie Heung, the elderly wife of a master neon sign craftworker, Bill, who passed away six weeks ago. Heung is grieving and spends her days feeding coins into the slot machines of an empty arcade game hall. Her daughter Prism, who lives with her, is mostly absent and is distant since the death of their loved one. Suffering from insomnia, Heung wanders around her apartment doing laundry at night and cooking for dinners for three, including a meal for her deceased husband.
One day, she finds a set of keys inside Bill’s pants which says “Bill’s Neon.” Thinking that her husband closed the business several years ago, she is shocked to discover that he’s been secretly continuing the business alongside his young apprentice Leo for all of these years. After being talked into keeping the business running, Heung decides to continue in her husband’s footsteps and recreate some of the best giant neon signs that were forced to close due to the government crackdown. After paying all of the debt, with the help of Leo and crowdfunding, Heung is on a mission to fulfill her husband’s dying wish.
Hong Kong’s colourful neon signs were once a glittering symbol of the city’s vibrancy. They’ve since been replaced with cheaper options like Led lights. Vanishing alongside these jewels are their creators, these passionate artists who created an artform that has slowly disappeared. Steeped in this atmosphere of nostalgia and loss, the film is a heartfelt love letter to these forgotten craftsmen as well as a bygone Hong Kong. The disappearance of a place inscribed with light is paralleled with Heung’s loss of a husband.
A shooting star can represent the dead, but even though they’re no longer here on earth their light will forever shine bright and illuminate the sky like the neon lights that will never go out.
REVIEW: B-
