給愛麗絲 (2024)

A compact neo-noir bathed in neon and shadows, Chow Kam Wing's chamber piece resurrects Hong Kong's pulp tradition with arthouse flair. Unfolding in the faded opulence of Tsim Sha Tsui's Mirador Mansion, it charts an unlikely bond between grizzled veteran Tai Bo and rising star Kuku So—he a mysterious rescuer, she a teenager running away from her mother's abusive partner. At first Alice (the Wonderland echoes ring deliberately) rebuffs her grizzled savior's gallantry. But their shared loneliness catalyzes a fraught rapprochement amid the mansion's crimson-lit maze. Chow wields colorful yet noirish atmospherics with a maestro's command, the dank stairwells and flickering fluorescents conjuring palpable peril. As this intricate two-hander hurtles toward its cathartic climax, you'll be gasping—not just from the suspense, but from sensing the new lifeblood pulsing through the story. In the live wire intensity between Chow's protagonists burns the fierce promise of the arthouse's inheritance of Hong Kong's pulp legacy.