Review: Small Hong Kong movie One Second Champion punches above its weight

[UPDATE: July 2]

The islandwide premiere date of One Second Champion is to be confirmed.

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*Spoilers below

Watching a Hong Kong film in a cinema in Singapore in Cantonese is a luxury movie purists rarely get.

This coming weekend is an exception, when six films from the territory will be screened (for free somemore!) at The Cathay Cineplex in the Chinese dialect, as part of the Hong Kong Film Gala Presentation 2021 (more on that below).

The film kicking off the event — which starts tomorrow (July 2) — is the small, seemingly inconspicuous One Second Champion directed by newbie Chiu Sin Hang.

Even with a mostly young cast — none of them big stars — it managed to punch above its weight at the domestic box office this year, taking in US$1.64 million (S$2.2 million) and beating Louis Koo's Dynasty Warriors.

What it's about

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6HzpPhflYU[/embed]

Cantopop singer Endy Chow plays deadbeat dad Chow Tin Yan, who was dead for one second when he was born, and ever since then, he could see one second into the future. As a child, he goes on TV programmes to show his peculiar ability and is coined the 'One Second Child Wonder'.

But, as his own deadbeat dad told him, he realises that one second doesn't help him much in life and especially in gambling. In adulthood, his wife runs away with another man and he becomes a single dad to his hearing-impaired wisecracking son.

By chance, he gets a job as a training assistant in a boxing gym owned by the enthusiastic Yip Chi Shun (played by the director Sin Hang) and later begins training as a boxer to impress his son. He loses the pounds and recyclable 'uncle' tote bag, becomes a hot dad, and begins exchanging romantic side-glances with Chi Shun's Taiwanese cousin Siu Yiu (Lin Min-chen).

Tin Yan wins his matches using his 'talent' but just before the big one with the legendary elite boxer Joe (Thai actor Chanon Santinatornkul), he loses his one-second ability in a traffic accident. He enters the boxing ring nevertheless, and you'll have to watch the movie to find out what happens next.

Feel-good flick on underdogs

There're the occasional cliches in the film but these can be easily overlooked with the overall glossiness of the movie — the layered character developments, the sharp cinematography during the boxing matches, and definitely, the feel-good undertone of underdogs changing the trajectory of their lives with determination and changes to their perspectives.

The last is probably the hope that many of us look for in our choice of entertainment these days.

Some of the messages in One Second Champion are also worth bookmarking. Siu Yiu says she sometimes wonders if there's an alternate universe where another Siu Yiu lives truly happy.

Tin Yan replies, when he sees one second into the future, he wonders if making a decision different from what he saw would end up creating an alternate timeline, bringing him closer to the idea of a 'better alternative' that people dream of. It's a nice poetic way of saying one second of action is really what you need to positively change your life.

Hong Kong Film Gala Presentation 2021

Apart from One Second Champion, the other movies that will be shown in the event are:

- The Way We Keep Dancing, a sequel to the 2013 film The Way We Dance about the street dance culture in Hong Kong. This time, the dancers including Cherry Ngan and Babyjohn Choi from the original cast, are faced with gentrification of the district that has nurtured their creativity;

- Romantic comedy Ready o/r Knot, starring Carlos Chan and Michelle Wai, about lustful men who will do anything to avoid marriage, and insecure women who feel the need to trap their men into marrying them;

- Drifting, starring Francis Ng and Lolette Lee, which takes a close look at the homeless people of Hong Kong;

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/mm2singapore/videos/334093368344954[/embed]

- All U Need Is Love, featuring an all-star ensemble cast including Louis Koo, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Julian Cheung and Fiona Sit, about hotel guests who are forced to be quarantined in the hotel after it's suspected to be the source of a Covid-19 outbreak; and

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/mm2singapore/videos/772483796774078[/embed]

- Septet: The Story of Hong Kong, directed by seven of Hong Kong's most respected filmmakers, such as Sammo Hung, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Yuen Wo Ping, Johnnie To, Tsui Hark, and the late Ringo Lam, who compose a symphony of stories about the city.

The event is organised by the Asian Film Awards Academy in collaboration with mm2 Entertainment and Cathay Cineplexes, with the financial support of Create Hong Kong and Film Development Fund, and with the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore.

It will run from July 2 to July 4, and tickets to the screenings are given away through contests. You can still get some from the contest on mm2 Entertainment's Facebook but act fast, the contest ends at 5pm today!

The islandwide cinematic release of One Second Champion is to be confirmed. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/mm2singapore/videos/587027028933664[/embed]

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com