Video: Big cities around the world all have an unmistakable energy — which happens when you stack people on top of more people — that makes them unique and yet similar all at once. There’s a constant buzz around the city and there are different layers to the life there. Here’s what it’s like in Hong Kong.
Brandon Li’s Hong Kong Strong does a great job in peeling back the layers of Hong Kong life by showcasing the different sides — rich, poor, etc. — of what it’s like to live there.
He gathers similar scenes from different areas of the city and stitches them together so that they’re happening all at once. There’s a meal being cooked and served at a street stall spliced next to a meal being carefully constructed and plated at a fancy restaurant. People are seen playing mahjong all over the city with different tools, while others learn martial arts, practice the dragon dance, and explore abandoned buildings. The film captures the frenetic life of a city and all of its people happening all at once, just as it does in real life.