Would be happy to hear from you!

Timo

Love your work and have for years (check out http://www.mrjam.org if you are not familiar with the writings of Nury Vittachi). I have sent you a private email regarding your questions.

To your first question I would say that Split Second Murders is definitely ‘commercial’ in going after a certain target audience. A director wouldn’t just arbitrarily use FAMA or Chrissie Chau as leads without knowing who will go to see them, so this film is definitely trying to hit up the same market as Patrick Kong’s films. But the substance and style here is quite different and there are critical messages (based on some very local contexts) running throughout the film. Kevin and I will definitely be talking about allot of these points in the next podcast (#10).

As to your next question, we don’t have ‘spots’ really, just a group that has built up over the years (it started out as just me and Kozo from http://www.lovehkfilm.com). These days we have around 7 on a full night, so if you are in Hong Kong you are welcome to join us. We typically watch films on Thursday nights with an optional after-film discussion/rant session at a dessert shop. I will mail you the details of our next movie night if you are still interested. Just post me an email to let me know.

By the way, is there still an empty spot in your group of “Hong Kong cinephiles?” I’d love to go and watch HK movies with people with whom I can actually discuss what I just saw on more than just a superficial level.