Cageman is a focused social critique of a uniquely Hong Kong phenomenon: in this city with the world’s most unequal wealth and income gap, many unfortunate middle-aged men can’t afford the most basic lodging, and live in low-rent cages inside squalid tenements. Cageman is a microcosm of Hong Kong, where most citizens must live squeezed into incredibly dense neighbourhoods, prey to monopolistic ‘tycoons’ – the (Chinese government-supporting) land-owning billionaire class – while nevertheless enjoying a way of life that, despite its frictions, forges a uniquely communal, indomitable ‘spirit of Lion Rock’.
Tag: HONG KONG
Beijing, the Seventies. Now that the Cultural Revolution has driven most adults to the provinces, 14-year old Monkey and his pals have free reign over the city. They hang around, get up to no good and discover that unsolvable mystery more commonly referred to as ‘girls’.
May and her brother are inseparable as children. When May becomes an adolescent, she can’t seem to let go of memories of her childhood, which seem to sustain her in her cold, loveless middle class home in Diamond Hill.
Ho has a bright future with Hong Kong’s police force. But Ho’s wife wants to emigrate to the United States. So he winds up in Manhattan on the New York police force. Ho’s wife meets Chinese ‘wheeler- dealer’ Chan who teaches her how to double her money overnight. She changes from a tender wife into a hard business woman as Ho watches helplessly. In fact, Ho has been given his new undercover assignment: to investigate Chan and his suspected criminal background.
Shishedo, a mortician, is grief-stricken when his favorite singer is killed in a car accident. As a result, he vows to help her get the most “appropriate” burial. Afterward, Shishedo disappears and leaves his co-workers to deal with the ghostly aftermath. In the next segment, Gigi wants a memorial service for her departed mother. Seizing the opportunity, Shishedo’s co-workers coaxed Gigi into purchasing tons of service materials from them. Upset at the greed, the ghost of Gigi’s mother returns to haunt the workers. Lastly, Hung was dumped by her boyfriend Daviv because the thought of her working at the mortuary doesn’t appeal to him. When Hung does the unthinkable to escape the pain, Daviv finds himself facing retribution.
A troubled romance set against the backdrop of thepolitically-inspired riots that swept Hong Kong in 1967. The central couple are neighbors in a Kowloon City tenement, situated right under the flight path into Hong Kong’s airport. He drives an unlicensed taxi, she is a go-getting movie actress. Just as they begin to realize how much they need each other, the riots tear them apart.
Soon after Japan relinquishes control of Taiwan in 1945, the Lin brothers face hardships from the changing culture. Bar owner Wen-heung, the eldest brother, falls foul of local gangsters, Wen-sun disappears, and Wen-leung, scarred by his experiences in the war, ends up in an insane asylum. Deaf-mute photographer Wen-ching, the youngest brother, decides to make a stand and fight the Kuomintang government from China that is assuming power.