Diamond Hill (2000)

When two village children are orphaned, the sister and brother pair is split apart. The girl, May, is adopted by foster parents who keep her from the brother. And the boy is left roaming the streets alone in hopes they can finally reunite and eventually return to their family home...

Aside from telling the children's story, Diamond Hill also incorporates a camcorder-equipped burglar (Cheung Tat-ming) as it follows a sub-story of relationships building over time spent close together. While some patrons may find the film's contents and characters far from credible and perhaps unsettling, its gist offers an intriguing delivery of the theme. Viewers familiar with Cheang's earlier digital video (DV) production Our Last Day (1999) shouldn't be too surprised to find similarities here, both in theme and in visual symbolism.

The film returns to the DV filmmaking techniques used in Our Last Day, used to a lesser extent. Conveying similar intimate image qualities, the DV filmmaking in Diamond Hill is used specifically for the childhood flashback scenes and effectively segregates the timeframes*. Present-day scenes are rarely flashy but bring forward the storyline and occasional atmospheric moments without distraction. The film is uniformly low-budget in its indie feel and appearance, from artistic licence down to Chan Chin-pang's crude make-up, and it sustained my interest throughout the theatre screening.

Returning to the big screen after her fine Spacked Out role, Maggie Poon turns out a good choice playing the elder May with her low-key acting. The parents -- Hui Shiu-hung and Carrie Ng -- make a good pair on screen. Cheung Tat-ming, though too over-the-top in comparison to the other cast members, enlivens proceedings as expected. Assistant director Joe Lee makes an impressive appearance as the children's birth father, and the film's director cameos as a mugger. Worth additional note is one particular location choice that enhances the movie experience for local viewers. Tai Hom Village at Diamond Hill serves as a backdrop for the childhood flashback sequences and, whether intentional or not, adds an additional sense of nostalgia considering the environs. As the sprawling village site will be cleared in early 2001 (much was already vacated by Diamond Hill's November 2000 theatre run), the movie also plays as one of the last opportunities to film within the shabby environs.

* Note: This distinction between digital video and normal film sequences is less clear on the Deltamac VCD edition (pictured).

Credits:

Directed by Cheang Pou-soi
Starring Maggie Poon, Chan Chin-pang, Cheung Tat-ming, Carrie Ng, Hui Shiu-hung, Joe Lee and Chan Kwok-bong