Fat gwong sek tau

Diamond Hill is a film which seems to have been extremely over-looked, though perhaps ripe for discovery by those looking to branch out from Fruit Chan's independent films into similar territory.

Diamond Hill looks and feels like just such an indie film, which is not to say that it is amateurish. It is actually very well put together and superbly acted. But it has an experimental quality to it, an adventurousness that pushes the audience towards the unfamiliar, as if trying to see how much they might be willing to accept, plot-wise and stylistically.

The plot is not hard to follow, though much of it is conveyed through flashback. These flashbacks were shot on digital video, which gives them a unique feel, and also helps the watcher separate the past from the present (which is also a problem for the characters themselves, it seems). I don't wish to say much about the plot, because it is full of twists and revelations, but will limit myself to saying that coping with baggage from the past and dealing with relationships old and new seems to be the focus of proceedings.

The director, Pou-soi Cheang, employs a range of styles, varying from schmaltzy nostalgia to horror to (almost) slapstick humour. Yet it all coheres and makes sense, which is quite an achievement, especially for indie films.

I viewed this on VCD, which contained a far-from-perfect transfer (though thankfully the subtitles were quite legible), yet even these deficiencies didn't really undermine the film at all, and perhaps even contributed to the film's overall feel.

I'd recommend this film to anyone who likes Fruit Chan's films, or Chinese indie or low-budget films in general. It's well worth a look.