Soundless Wind Chime (2009) User Reviews

Though Greatly Flawed, It's An Interesting Watch!

[akash_sebastian · 7/10 · 2 September 2013]

Wing Kit Hung's debut feature is a fascinating watch. It's a mysterious, poetic and moving story; the line between reality/memory and imagination is so intriguingly blurred that you're left confused and overwhelmed at the same time, till the very end. And it's supposed to be like that. The movie is about moving on, and the heart-wrenching and difficult journey we have to tread to achieve that.

It has a brilliant and captivating soundtrack. The acting is commendable. The scenes are shot and edited quite well. The movie seems an achingly real portrayal of love, loss and life. The climax, the scenes along with the music, is spellbinding.

It's a not a perfect movie; the movie is flawed in so many ways. The plot and the storytelling style is too ambitious for a first-time Director. The three stories set in Hong Kong, Switzerland and Beijing are not developed clearly, and the relationships lack depth and detail; and they seem to spiral out of control without any evident reason. Though many of the things in the central relationship of Ricky and Pascal are subtle and unclear, their scenes are shot with great visual poetry. The story is intensely personal, and the autobiographical overtones only make sense to the director and not properly conveyed to the audience. The relevance and meaning of the opening and ending scenes, with the old couple, still elude me.

Well, in spite of its drawbacks, I personally think it's a good film and a great attempt. The blurred lines and mystery just add to its beauty.

Slow Motion

[BILLYBOY-10 · 5/10 · 13 January 2018]

Plodding and a film that could have take about 35 minutes, this is suppose to be avant-garde I suppose, which means difficult to follow since it is not very cohesive. I guess it gets it's title from a wind chime in an antique shop but I'm not sure. The ending is tragic of course, being the time of generally downer film that it is. Sorry, it was way too slow and zig-zagging for me.

Unique, Artistic, Dreamy.

[karter-mmm · 14 October 2011]

The meaning of this movie is very subjective. One may or may not like it. I seem to be the guy who likes movie that slowly progresses and leaves me to create my own conclusion. This movie is emotionally provoking . It made me quite depressed, to be honest, which I think is the aim of the movie. The story can be quite vague and unclear to the end but it will gradually soak into you and leave you to think and think. The scenes are breathtaking and magnificent. The bond between the two characters are very strong that you can almost feel it. I watched it about a year ago and I think it is worth to watch it once more. I suggest everybody should give this a go but as I mentioned, it's very subjective and the meaning of the movie depends on yourself.

A total waste of time

[midnight-sun2010 · 2/10 · 31 July 2011]

Watch this movie only if you like watching grass sway back and forth in the wind. It's a total waste of time unless you like EXTREMELY slow movies where you make up your own storyline as the movie progress....practically no script except for a spattering of a word or two every now and then..... It's like a first year drama student trying extremely hard to produce and 'arty-farty' movie....without success..! The acting by the main stars are mediocre at best. Many visuals in the movie are totally irrelevant and only added to lengthen the pain in watching grass swaying back and forth. At the end of the movie, you will be left with a feeling of being robbed of more than an hour of your life and lots of un-answerred questions in the plot and the storyline of this movie. I would not recommend you to watch this movie unless you really really have nothing to do and like torturing yourself ..

Move Thee Reviews: In Search of Traces of the Deceased through a Dreamlike Amalgam of Reality, Memories and Imagination

[ken1848 · 8/10 · 7 July 2009]

Amalgamating reality with memories and imagination, Soundless Wind Chime is a dreamlike journey on which Ricky embarks in search of traces of his lover who has passed away.

When our lovers pass away, we tend to search for connections with them in a number of ways. We may call them and wonder if they will answer the call. We may visit their places and hug their belongings. We may believe a wind chime will ring when the souls come back as moths. Despite our awareness of their death, it is difficult for us to "let go" and we unconsciously want to get in touch with them. At the end of the film, the wind chime does not ring, which conveys a message that we have to accept the death of our beloved people, no matter how much we miss them.

The director's attempt to blur the boundary between reality, memories and imagination is much appreciated. For example, when an old lady with Alzheimer's disease suddenly and surrealistically sings and dances, it can be Ricky's imagination or the lady's memory. When Ricky's mother who is very sick can sing and walk, one may wonder if it is a sudden spurt of activity prior to collapse or just her imagination. In Switzerland, does Ricky really meet someone who looks like Pasgel or is it just his imagination that Pasgel is still with him? Switzerland, Hong Kong and Beijing are beautifully shot and their unique features are successfully highlighted. For instance, the Hong Kong scenes show an old fashioned Hong Kong Style Café, Tenement House and Hong Kong trams (Ding Ding). Besides, the snowy mountains in Switzerland are breathtaking and the taxis in Beijing are very different from the ones in Hong Kong. These images will surely linger in your mind when you leave the cinema. What's more, I agree with the director that the Swiss scenes are more static than the Hong Kong scenes and the Beijing scenes are most realistic. I also agree that the Swiss scenes shot in winter capture the emptiness of the silent landscape, while the Hong Kong scenes shot in summer show the hustle and bustle of city life. This contrast symbolizes that Ricky and Pascal are physically distant. Apart from these, using a hand-held camera fits this dreamlike movie.

The mesmerizing music, spiced with a hypnotizing female voice and some sounds of a wind chime, not only matches the rhythm of this dreamlike story, but also adds melancholy and elegance to this soul-seeking journey. The haunting Chinese song sung by a little girl at the end of the movie also beautifully conveys Ricky's feelings.

Lu Yulai acts quite naturally, while Bernhard Bulling slightly underacts his dual role as Pascal and Ueli who have very different personalities. The actress who plays an old lady with Alzheimer's disease delivers the most memorable performance and the middle-aged women working in the Hong Kong style café act very naturally and bring the audience the most hilarious moment, despite their brief appearances in the film.

Despite the above-mentioned strengths, the movie is not flawless. First, the story interweaving the present with the past, combined with three shooting locations and the director's attempt to blur the boundary between reality and imagination, seems too much for a novice director to handle, which may lead to difficulty in following the story and understanding the messages, though I concur with the director that it may be a good idea to present a film about memories in a non-chronological fashion. Second, Ricky's motive for inviting a pickpocket to live with him is unclear and their relationship worsens too suddenly. Their relationship can be further developed so that more snippets of their love story can be recalled.

On the whole, Soundless Wind Chime, a poetic feast to the eyes and ears, will cast a spell over the audience. As a director's debut feature, this beautiful movie is definitely worth our support.

An Emotional Ride.

[Masrav · 9/10 · 5 September 2010]

Poetic and translucent. A pure, intense journey through emotions, amplified by the gorgeous visual and music score. Traveling back and forth through memories, dreams, recollections and fragments can be overwhelming, though it might be intentional as to make us feel how Ricky himself is feeling, lost and confused, lonely and desolate. A journey of a love that came from chance, small kindness, small crushes, that led to a whirlwind of feelings and breathtaking moments that got me sobbing so hard. Though to understand the full scope of this film, a second viewing is quite necessary, the first time of you watching this movie will take you on a ride through the poetic quality of a Chinese film, with the intensity of an indie movie, so out of norm, so random, so fragile that in the end, delivers a fascinating, heartfelt, confusing, demanding and touching film, that will leave you gasping for air.

Masterfully Melancholy

[Suradit · 10/10 · 4 March 2012]

Fantastic movie. The acting was superb and Yulai Lu gave a stellar performance. I can't imagine that anyone could watch this without being emotionally drained.

It was a complicated movie that will require a second and maybe a third viewing to understand fully, but the emotional impact was stunning even if every detail of the plot wasn't immediately obvious.

Although there was little dialogue, the two main actors conveyed the emotional roller coaster that defined their relationship marvelously. It may have leaned a little heavily on symbolism at times, but the pain caused by love was unequivocal.

Because of one negative review here, I expected that I would just fast-forward through this movie to see if there was anything worth watching later (since it was described by one person as slow moving and "artsy-fartsy"), but I remained glued to my seat watching every minute and expect to watch it again very soon. And I will definitely search for anything else Yulai Lu is in.

Love it

[dario-4 · 11 September 2011]

Very beautiful and touching.just shocking in the end but very touching, i needed thinking very much to try understand the film, when he get the backpack in the station is the principal fact i don't understand, and so the come back in the road with it holding very tight. but now i can understand why. The film can be interpreted in lots ways, unhappiness for me the more sad way was the one, and choking so much that i really wanna cry, and really wanna change the end. I loved the film so much. And its a film about a true love, sometimes a true love isn't forever, but in this case was...but its so sad. Very beautiful and touching.just shocking in the end but very touching, i needed thinking very much to try understand the film, when he get the backpack in the station is the principal fact i don't understand, and so the come back in the road with it holding very tight. but now i can understand why. The film can be interpreted in lots ways, unhappiness for me the more sad way was the one, and choking so much that i really wanna cry, and really wanna change the end. I loved the film so much. And its a film about a true love, sometimes a true love isn't forever, but in this case was...but its so sad.

Swiss Mister

[NoDakTatum · 8/10 · 21 October 2023]

A dreamlike filmed meditation grounded in the real world, "Soundless Wind Chime" eventually answers all the viewers' questions while testing their patience. Ricky (Lu Yulai) works a dead-end job in a Hong Kong restaurant and lives with his crude prostitute aunt (Wella Zhang). Ricky's pocket is picked by Pascal (Bernhard Bulling), a Swiss national with problems of his own. Pascal is regularly beaten by his lover, Marcus (Hannes Lindenblatt), who feels he is entitled to sex anytime. Pascal finally leaves Marcus, meets Ricky by chance, and the two strike up a very quick romance on their own, moving into what seems like Hong Kong's tiniest apartment together. Pascal entertains Ricky's coworkers, and gets a job at a kindergarten while Ricky must often leave for Beijing to care for his dying mother. The couple get along well, although Pascal begins playing the field, angering Ricky. Maybe this rebound relationship isn't as permanent as it first seemed. The main story of the film is mirrored by Ricky's trip to Pascal's Switzerland, where he meets Ueli (also Bernhard Bulling), a shop owner. Why Ricky is in Switzerland, and the meaning of the title, are eventually explained.

This is Kit Hung's first film, and it does frustrate at the outset. Hung demands that the viewer keep his opening images in their head, and even then, I wasn't entirely satisfied by his ending explanations, or lack thereof. Ricky and Pascal's affair seems pat, they climb into bed together almost instantaneously, and I found my interest drifting more to Ricky and Ueli in Switzerland- again, which plays a secondary plot role. I would recommend the film however, based on Hung's masterly direction. Being in such close quarters, he must go hand-held many times, but he never tries to be documentary-like. No fakey zooms, no blurred images (except when they are meant to be), and so I could concentrate on the story and amazing performances. While the character of Ricky seems a bit shallow, Yulai is excellent in the role. Bulling is also great, making Pascal and Ueli separate people (or are they?), and both leads deserve praise. The juxtaposition between the cramped Hong Kong interiors and the luscious Swiss countryside is beautiful to look at. "Soundless Wind Chime" does unsuccessfully try to be avant-garde here and there (the "Gesundheit" song number out of nowhere), but Hung held my attention, as did the two leads. I recommend it.