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Edited by Evelyn Lok<br />
FILMevelyn.lok@hkmagmedia.com<br />
Returning to Hong Kong in November.<br />
Become a Happy Non-Smoker<br />
by attending our 5 hour programme<br />
“I am pleased to say it has<br />
worked for many of my friends<br />
and staff” – Sir Richard Branson<br />
Availability limited to 25 clients<br />
For more details,<br />
and to book online, go to<br />
www.easywayhongkong.com<br />
God Help the Girl PPPPP<br />
(UK) Musical/drama. Directed by Stuart Murdoch. Starring Emily Browning, Olly Alexander,<br />
Hannah Murray. 111 minutes. Category IIB. Opened Oct 23.<br />
“God Help the Girl” is the debut film of Stuart Murdoch, frontman of Scottish indie pop group Belle<br />
and Sebastian. As you would expect from the Scots melancholist, the movie has had a tortured<br />
development. Murdoch had long ago conceived of the idea for a musical film, shot entirely in his<br />
hometown of Glasgow, about a young girl moving into adulthood. Great idea: but he found writing<br />
songs easier than writing movies. The “God Help the Girl” album was released in 2009—the film<br />
has only just hit cinemas. Was it worth the wait? Murdoch’s musical might be a little too self-aware<br />
for some but at its core, it’s a warm, willing musical about growing up.<br />
Eve (Emily Browning, “Sucker Punch”) is a girl with a problem or two. She lives in a psychiatric<br />
hospital in Glasgow, where she’s dealing with anorexia and depression. The only time she feels<br />
happy is when she’s writing music. One day she sneaks out to a gig in the middle of town, where<br />
she meets James (relative newcomer Olly Alexander), a grumpy university student with glasses,<br />
messy hair and a love of pop music. Eve discharges herself from the hospital and moves in with<br />
James. She meets Cassie (Hannah Murray, Gilly from “Game of Thrones” and Cassie from “Skins”),<br />
a well-off schoolgirl who’s learning guitar from James: The three hit it off and decide to start a<br />
band. Over the summer, the trio goes on grand days out, looks for supporting musicians, argues<br />
about band names, and sings a song or two—all while helping Eve get her life back on track. But of<br />
course, the summer has to come to an end, and with it the three must work out what to do next.<br />
The principal actors are great: Emily Browning seems to specialize in lost characters, and her<br />
impeccably dressed musical wanderings around summertime Glasgwegian streets are adorable<br />
and vulnerable all at once. Hannah Murray’s Cassie is callow and privileged, but totally warm and<br />
genuine. As James, Olly Alexander is fantastic—a spot-on mix of bumbling awkwardness and a<br />
nerdy passion for music that’s adulterated by an affected world-weariness. You couldn’t wish for<br />
better friends. It’s good, in fact, to see a movie that doesn’t stigmatize someone’s mental illness:<br />
instead the other characters accept it, work with it, and do whatever they can to help.<br />
“God Help the Girl” is a tremendously arch movie, even for a musical: put aside the music and<br />
you’re often left with some annoying and clunky dialogue about the very nature of music. (“A man<br />
needs only write one genius song to make him forever divine,” and so on) They’re the kinds of<br />
conversations you could charitably dismiss as the kind of conversation we all have about music<br />
when we’re 18. Between that and the cuteness of its characters, the movie often verges on the<br />
twee, something that would be tremendously annoying, if only the three leads weren’t so<br />
totally endearing.<br />
What’s not annoying, of course, is the music—which is fantastic. The songs are some of the<br />
strongest Murdoch has written in years, and he shoots them remarkably well also. With dance<br />
sequences, melancholy wanders, choreographed routines and sometimes, just a little bit of solo<br />
guitar—the best of the movie comes through, inevitably, in its tunes.<br />
As a modern-day coming-of-age movie “God Help the Girl” is knowing and often saccharine,<br />
but it’s also charming and satisfying. It all boils down to this: If you love Belle and Sebastian, with<br />
all its self-conscious musical art, then you’ll love “God Help the Girl.” Adam White<br />
Coming Soon<br />
Dot 2 Dot<br />
(Hong Kong/China) Hong Kong actor Moses<br />
Chan removes himself from his beloved cup<br />
of artisanal coffee for a couple moments to<br />
star in this film, which explores urban change<br />
and collective memory in Hong Kong. He<br />
is Chung, a recent returnee to Hong Kong<br />
from Canada, who expresses the changes<br />
transpired over the last years in an intricate<br />
dot-to-dot street art mural. It’s obviously a<br />
great way to meet girls, because in comes<br />
Xue, a Putonghua teacher from China trying to<br />
understand the culture and history of her new<br />
city. Opens Oct 30.<br />
Horns<br />
(USA) Just in time for Halloween, “Horns”<br />
stars Daniel Radcliffe in the scariest nightmare<br />
of all: a man who wakes up after a terrible<br />
night of drinking to find horns growing on his<br />
head, and the news that his girlfriend was<br />
violently raped and murdered—and he’s the<br />
prime suspect. But perhaps the superpowers<br />
set it off: he gains the ability to make people<br />
confess their sins and give into their wildest<br />
impulses, which he takes advantage of in<br />
the quest for truth and revenge. Yeah! Dark<br />
Potter! Opens Oct 30.<br />
34 HK MAGAZINE FRIDAY, October 24, 2014