Green Hat

DIR: Liu Fendou | China | 2004 | 98 min
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

SHOWTIMES:
Mon. Sept. 27 | 10:00pm | Granville 7 Cinema, Theatre 1
Fri. Oct. 1 | 11:30am | Granville 7 Cinema, Theatre 3
Mon. Oct. 4 | 7:30pm | Granville 7 Cinema, Theatre 1

The directorial debut of Chinese screenwriter Liu has the feel of an American indie in many ways. There's not only bank robbers and infidelity, but also extended talk about impotence. The film starts with the story of three young knuckleheads killing time before their scheduled robbery of the Bank of China. One of the 'brothers' is using his cut of the loot to fly to reunite himself with his girlfriend in America. In his way to the airport, he calls her and gets dumped. Quickly, the scenario turns into hostage crisis with a surprising end.

The narrative then shifts to the life of a cop and his family. He's impotent and his wife's been cheating on him - it's your standard 10+ year marriage. How and when the cop confronts and 'deals with' his growing desperation at the situation provides the remainder of the sometimes extremely funny story. If it were an America film, Green Hat would be seen mostly as a showcase for the director's writing and entertaining cast. But it's not American and the frankness with which Liu deals with his subject matter is refreshing and unique. Based on this first feature, i think we should expect even more from him in the future.