30-07-21
Wasting time is a feeling which hurts us terribly. Over the past years, I framed justifications in different terms that made my decisions and actions in life more palatable. Self-serving reasons are in fact situational. Sadly for us, coming to recognise your real needs and desires is the luxury of regret when age is in your debt and you can unburden yourself by turning back on your bad old days.
My new book, a collection of short articles, Wasted Youth枉少年 was released in the Hong Kong Book Fair in July 2021. I set up my law firm when I was only 27 and tried hard to make the ‘best’ of my career by working too much: spending my weekends doing business, eating too much at business dinners, meeting troublesome business contacts whom I actually prefer to distance from, business trips for no business return and forcing my appearance to become the kind of business look that I dislike…
I wanted to look back in a talk in the Book Fair with my old friend Lam Ka Tung(林家棟). Most days of our years begin and end fast with good or bad memory in between. Nevertheless, they do make impact on the course of a life.
Ka Tung started working with a local TV station HKTVB in a very low position in the late 1980s and he worked diligently. Given his great talent, especially acting as an unsung hero or brave underdog, he was able to go up through many ranks to become one of the top TV actors in Hong Kong in the 1990s. In 2001, being an embodiment of determination, Ka Tung left HKTVB and got into the uncertain film industry, first as an actor and later as a scriptwriter and producer. At some time in the future, I am sure we will have one more film director in Hong Kong. He won many awards including the best actor trophy in Hong Kong Film Awards.
Ka Tung joked, “There are many ‘Wasted Youth’ ideas and mine was closing my books. I disliked studying and enjoyed playing when I was a kid. Play is simple. It does not require money or toys. What it truly requires is TIME and so I lost my time.” I echoed, “Work is difficult, particularly working as a lawyer. So, I lost more time than you did!” Ka Tung was amused, “Am I silly? Now, I am trying to compensate my loss of time by working hard too!” I laughed, “Working hard is blood loss and being lazy is soul loss! It is all up to you!”
I asked Ka Tung, “What are you looking for?” He became serious, “For myself, I want to be a better actor, not in terms of more awards but with respect to my exposure. The awards that I got are changing my life: better salary, working with better people, and greater projects. I do feel that I am still not good enough. I want more audience to see more human beauty or ugliness through my different roles in film.”
Ka Tung continued, “For the film industry of Hong Kong, I wish to help in the process of resuscitation of this once ‘Hollywood of The Far East’. Hong Kong’s film industries have enjoyed little subsidies from government and through our crowd-pleasing genres like comedy and action, we made it in the past. At the moment, where are we and what shall we do? I cannot answer. The best I can say is that any movie produced by us must be good. Forget how many audiences that it will attract but we just make sure that the quality of the film will be respected.”
I said, “What is your final wish?” He played with words, “World peace!” His self-deprecating smile showed that Lam Ka Tung could be a wonderful comedian.
This summer, Ka Tung must be busy with the harvest: his Hand Rolled Cigarette手捲煙 (as an actor) and Time殺出個黃昏 (as a producer). There is always something that you can learn from watching a movie. Please go into the house, sit down and enjoy Hong Kong movies! This is how you can keep Hollywood of the Far East alive!
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