To returns to his youth with “Sparrow’‘

A sparrow is Hong Kong slang for a pickpocket, and “Sparrow” is the title of Johnnie To’s latest movie.

Fai, played by Simon Yam, and his three associates lead a carefree and playful life being pickpockets on the streets of old Hong Kong. Then a woman persudes them to steal a key, but the thieves do not know what they are getting themselves into.
The movie is a homage at the film director’s native city, and took years to make.

Sparrow had its european premier at this years Berlin Film festival

“The main point of this movie”, says To, “is to capture the flavour of Hong Kong, and for me it is something that I have been trying to do for the last four years. There are other scenes, many other scenes that I have shot, but I didn’t really think they were catching the feeling I was after. After so much time shooting a movie the investor will ask you to wrap it up at some point and so I finished it.”

The film has a very western feel to it, in part because To wanted to capture the atmosphere of the colonial city before the old buildings are torn down in China’s modern love affair with steel and glass.

Kelly Lin plays the lead female role;

“It’s been filmed for more than three years. At the beginning, I felt it was quite hard, because you got involved three or four days for shooting, then it had to stop for three or four months and I came back for my character. I felt it’s been difficult over the time. Later on, I knew I had to relax in order to play my part, but it’s getting better.”

The action is interspersed with comedy, and the heroine’s manipulation of the four men becomes a five-cornered love affair, making “Sparrow” very different in tone and content from To’s other movies, but none the less satisfying. And there’s not a gun or fight to be seen!

Copyright © 2012 euronews