A Light Never Goes Out review – Hong Kong’s neon signs light up nostalgic drama – The Guardian
Hong Kong’s vibrant neon indicators have been as soon as a glittering image of town’s vibrancy; now they’re quickly disappearing, changed with cheaper choices like LED lights. Vanishing alongside these jewels of the evening are their creators, passionate artisans whose metier is now out of date. Steeped on this ambiance of nostalgia and loss, Anastasia Tsang’s characteristic debut is a heartfelt love letter to those forgotten craftsmen in addition to a bygone Hong Kong whose mild continues to linger amid socio-political change.
Grappling with generational variations, Tsang negotiates a well-intentioned however typical plot that trades in acquainted archetypes. Mei-hsiang (Sylvia Chang), the grieving widow of a grasp neon maker, clings on to his workshop, a sentimental attachment that stands in stark distinction to her level-headed daughter Prism (Cecilia Choi), who has already made plans to depart for Australia. Whereas the movie typically depends on cliches to specific their conflict of personalities, Chang and Choi persistently rise above the broad strokes of their characters, suggesting a love that runs deep beneath a tense mother-and-daughter bond.
The veteran Chang fantastically conveys Mei-hsiang’s energy in addition to fragility with nuance; aided by workshop apprentice Leo (Henick Chou), Mei-hsiang vows to complete her husband’s remaining fee to revive an previous neon signal, regardless of her lack of technical data. Wholly idealistic in nature, the lofty mission displays a willpower to keep up town’s cultural id and contextualised by allusions to hostile occasions from current a long time, such because the Sars pandemic, Mei-hsiang’s makes an attempt to maintain the previous alive are particularly transferring of their neighborhood constructing potential.
Detailing the careers of the real-life artisans behind town’s most well-known billboards, the top credit are an interesting mini-lesson on the legacy of neon signage in Hong Kong. It’s a disgrace that this vital historical past was not woven extra prominently into the plot.
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