Echoes of the Rainbow

Plot

Eight-year-old Law Chun-yi (who goes by the nickname Big Ears) lives with his parents and his sixteen-year-old brother Desmond in a shoe shop on Wing Lee Street in late 1960s Hong Kong. Chun-yi looks up to his brother, who is a champion runner at the local high school, earns top grades, is a talented musician, and is very popular; Chun-yis parents and teachers often scold him for not being as good as his big brother. Desmond has a girlfriend, Flora, who comes from a wealthy family, and whose family moves away to the United States to escape the "lawless" situation in Hong Kong. Desmond 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 "make it big" because his English isnt good enough) and through his first time seeing the inside of Floras familys mansion. Most of this is told through Chun-yi, the films narrator.

Not long before Flora leaves, Desmonds grades start declining and he takes third place in a race he had hoped to win. One day he collapses suddenly after a typhoon nearly destroys the familys house, and his father takes him to the hospital, where he is diagnosed with leukemia. 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 treat him poorly 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 attempt to cheer him up, but Desmond doesnt 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 films final scene, Chun-yi and his mother are shown visiting Desmonds grave, and Chun-yi, now a teenager, recounts a lesson Desmond had taught him about double rainbows.

Cast

Reception

China Daily 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 inclued 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 eventually decided to keep all the tong laus on the street and to designate the region as a preservation site.

Awards and nominations