''Echoes of the Rainbow'' (;

romanisation Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

: ''Shui Yuet Sun Tau''; literally "''Time, the Thief''") is a 2010 Hong Kong drama film directed by Alex Law and starring

Simon Yam Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as ''Naked Killer'', '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'', ''Election' ...

and

Sandra Ng Sandra Ng Kwan-yue (born 2 August 1965) is a Hong Kong actress, film director and producer. Life and career The daughter of the actor Kenneth Ng Kam Tsun, Ng was born in Hong Kong, where she attended St. Stephen's Girls' College. Encouraged by he ...

. It won the Crystal Bear for the Best Film in the Children’s Jury "Generation Kplus" category at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival. It tells the story of a working family in Hong Kong whose eldest son, a popular boy and star athlete, becomes ill with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

. The film is set in 1960s British Hong Kong and was shot on the historical Wing Lee Street in Sheung Wan. It was financed by the Hong Kong government's Film Development Fund.

Plot

The story revolves around the Law family, including parents Mr. and Mrs. Law and their sons, Desmond Law Chun-yat and Law Chun-yi (a.k.a. Big Ears., who is also the film's

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

). They live in a shoe shop on Wing Lee Street, Sheung Wan, in late 1960s Hong Kong. Chun-yi is mischievous, prank-playing and has a poor attitude towards learning, which he often ends up getting scolded for by his parents and teachers. In contrast, his elder brother Desmond is a top grade earner, talented musician, and champion runner who attends the prestigious

Diocesan Boys' School The Diocesan Boys' School (DBS) is a day and boarding Anglican boys' school in Hong Kong, located at 131 Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon near Mong Kok East station. The school's mission is "to provide a liberal education based on Christian pr ...

. He is profoundly loved by his classmates and teachers. He also has a girlfriend, Flora, who was born to an affluent family. Flora and her family's immigration from Hong Kong to the United States lead Desmond's grades and performance at school to decline. He also gradually becomes aware of the inequalities in Hong Kong society of that time, both through interactions with a cocky British policeman who extorts money from his father in exchange for letting them keep their shop (and who insists that Desmond will never be successful because his English isn't good enough) and through his first time seeing the inside of Flora's family's mansion. Not long before Flora leaves, Desmond's grades start declining and he takes third place in a race he had hoped to win. One day, after a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

nearly destroys the family's house, Desmond collapses and his father takes him to the hospital, where he is diagnosed with

. His parents search for a doctor who can cure him but find none, and his condition worsens until he has to remain in the hospital, where the nurses maltreat him and extort money from his parents in exchange for basic care. Chun-yi, who spends much of his free time stealing trinkets around town, tries to offer them all to his brother in an attempt to cheer him up, but Desmond doesn't accept any of them. Flora returns from the United States and visits him in the hospital, where they share their first kiss, but Desmond dies shortly thereafter. Years later Chun-yi, narrating retrospectively, remarks that "time is the greatest thief". In the film's final scene, Chun-yi and his mother are shown visiting Desmond's grave, and Chun-yi, now a teenager, recounts a lesson Desmond had taught him about

double rainbow Double Rainbow may refer to: * Double rainbow, a variation of the meteorological phenomenon * Double Rainbow (ice cream), a brand of premium ice cream, sorbets, and frozen desserts Media * ''Double Rainbow'' (album), Aya Matsuura's sixth album ...

Cast

as Mr. Law *

as Mrs. Law *

Aarif Lee Aarif Rahman (, born 26 February 1987), also known as Aarif Lee Zhi-ting, is a Hong Kong actor, singer and songwriter. Early life Born in Hong Kong, Aarif Rahman is of mixed Arab, Malay and Chinese descent. He grew up in Hong Kong and attende ...

as Desmond Law (aka Law Chun-yat). Lee also portrayed Chun-yi as a teenager in the epilogue * Buzz Chung as Law Chun-yi * Evelyn Choi as Flora Lau (aka Lau Fong-fei) *

Paul Chun Paul Chun (; born 26 June 1945) is a Hong Kong actor. He has appeared in more than 130 films and television series since 1949. In 1966, he appeared in ''The Sand Pebbles'', an American film produced and directed by Robert Wise. Early life He wa ...

as Big Uncle/barber *

Lawrence Ah Mon Lawrence Ah Mon or Lawrence Lau Kwok Cheong (劉國昌) (born 1949) is a Hong Kong film director. His films are notable for their lurid exploration of the problems of the poor in modern Hong Kong, such as ''Gangs'' (1986), ''Spacked Out'' (2000), ...

as Goldfish Seller * Jean-Michel Sourd as French teacher

Reception

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...

'' placed the film on their list of the best ten Chinese films of 2010. Wing Lee Street, where ''Echoes of the Rainbow'' was shot, was originally included in a redevelopment plan. However, the Berlinale award won by the film stimulated the wish of Hong Kong people to preserve this heritage site and community. The

Town Planning Board The Town Planning Board () is a statutory body of the Hong Kong Government tasked with developing urban plans with an aim to ensuring the "health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the community through the process of guiding and c ...

eventually decided to keep all the

tong lau Tong lau or ke lau are tenement buildings built in late 19th century to the 1960s in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southern China, and Southeast Asia. Designed for both residential and commercial uses, they are similar in style and function to the shophouse ...

s on the street and to designate the region as a preservation site.

Awards and nominations

29th Hong Kong Film Awards The ceremony for the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards took place on 18 April 2010. Wang Po-chieh's original nomination for the Best New Performer was withdrawn after he was confirmed to be an actor in the 2008 Taiwan film ''Winds of September ''Winds ...

** Won: Best Screenplay (Alex Law) ** Won: Best Actor (Simon Yam) ** Nominated: Best Actress (Sandra Ng) ** Won: Best New Performer (Aarif Lee) ** Nominated: Best New Performer (Chung Shiu To) ** Won: Best Original Film Song (Lowell Lo, Alex Law and Aarif Lee) * 60th Berlin International Film Festival ** Crystal Bear for the Best Film in the Children’s Jury "Generation Kplus"

References

External links