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ReviewCiao UFO movie review: Charlene Choi leads nostalgic trip through recent Hong Kong history
Chui Tien-you and Wong You-nam join Charlene Choi in Patrick Leung’s poignant character drama that finally arrives at cinemas after debuting in 2019
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4/5 stars
Life rarely turns out the way one may have hoped – that is the core idea behind Ciao UFO.
The engrossing drama takes a sci-fi-tinged urban legend as its launch pad for a nostalgic trip through instantly recognisable scenes from recent Hong Kong history, as experienced by three former childhood friends who find their dreams slipping away as adults.
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Having premiered at the 2019 Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, this delicate tale of longing and regret by director Patrick Leung Pak-kin (2001’s Born Wild) had been denied a cinema release until this month due to a conflict behind the scenes. Ironically, the film’s story has only accrued an extra layer of poignancy in view of the years of chaos that the city has endured.
While it spans two decades and involves plenty of supporting characters, Ciao UFO is essentially a triptych following the largely unconnected lives of Kin (Chui Tien-you), Heem (Wong You-nam) and Hoyi (Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin), whose destinies are forever intertwined after a UFO sighting at Hong Kong’s Wah Fu Estate in 1985.
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