Some thoughts about "KJ : Music and Life"
A HK$90,000 local production.
A documentary featuring no super star.
A production by an unknown director.
Yet, this film won the 46th Taipei Golden Horse FF 2009 : Best Documentary, Best Film Editing and Best Sound Effect. And it has been showing in the cinema for cosecutive 3 months since 2009-12-11.
6 years! It took 6 years to capture the life changes of a gifted child musician, KJ (Wong Ka-Jeng), from age 11 to 17. Certainly it was not easy. But the real challenge was how to present it in a 90-min film.
Obviously, Cheung King Wai, director / producer, adopted a clever approach. He did not bored the audience by trying hard to connect the disjoint bits and pieces of facts. Instead, this film explored KJ's struggles, questions and innermost feelings in an effort to stimulate thinking. It did not intend to offer the answers. However, the audience could take away the open-ended questions to sleep upon.
Life is mysterious. KJ possesses most things anyone would dream of e.g. music gift, well-off family, handsome, early success, self-confident, etc. But, he is not as happy and satisfied as he supposed to be. Why?
No doubt that KJ has been extremely keen on perfection in music as well as bringing others to understand about it. But, his friends and family did not appreciate and like him as much as it expected to be. Why?
In one scene, KJ was directing the school orchestra in a practice session. It frustrated him because the performance did not meet his desirable standard. KJ abruptly stopped the team and tried to teach in abstract terms. In the end, he added, "...You need to trust me. Trust me. Okay? ... Trust me is the beginning of wisdom." KJ did not believe in God although he was surrounded by Christian friends and teachers. Why?
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..." (Proverb 9:10).
