words rachel mok

Karena Lam looks back on a life sometimes as claustrophobic as her latest film.
Hong Kong – 7 million people, 1014 km2 of land. It is nine in the morning. On the way to work, the MTR is its usual cheek-against-cheek squeeze. In the office, partitions between workstations just accentuate the fact that workers spend most of their days in cubicles so small they need to be contortionists to merely stretch their legs. Relief in the middle of the day is short-lived at crowded cha-chan-tans where it is a national pastime to listen to your neighbour chew. The only ease comes when, after another excruciating squash on the MTR, you open the door to your tiny apartment, throw your briefcase the two-and-half metres across the room, and dive, gratefully, full length onto the waiting bed.

And that probably sums up the daily routine of many working class people in our suffocating city. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, with all its inescapably crowded claustrophobia, love stories unfold in Hong Kong – love stories which give impetus to film scripts like Claustrophobia, a quasi-romance set in enclosed spaces – an office and a conference room, a car and an elevator. Karena Lam stars and tells bc a few home truths about love and life in small places.

‘I think that feeling happens a lot, Hong Kong is such a crowded place. Like when you share a table with others you can kind of feel that claustrophobia,’ she says. She expects many moviegoers will resonate with her film’s office liaison. ‘A lot of love stories are nothing like what we see in romantic films with their happy endings. Many of them don’t end up with anything,’ she says. Her character, 20-something marketing executive Pearl, secretly admires her married-with-children boss Tom (Ekin Cheng) from a distance, though nothing ever eventuates between them in the film. It is even similar, says Lam, to real life on a movie set. ‘When you are making a film for a few months you are working with the same people, be they the director or cast. You see them more than your family. It is easy to have feelings for each other and have the illusion that it is love. But after the film you don’t get to see them for six months or a year during post-production or promotion, so you have enough time to clear up that it wasn’t true.’

While “sweet” and “cheerful” may be some of the terms often used to describe the Canada-born actress she is, like her character Pearl in the film, rather elusive. Asked whether she is reticent about expressing herself to friends because whatever she says may end up as easily circulated gossip (like the office gossip among characters in the film), she says, ‘I don’t have many friends, actually,’ and laughs. Her social circle is stable but small – she has known her few friends for years. But still she keeps her private life – private. She doesn’t have a blog, MSN or Facebook account either. ‘Even my friends say I am mysterious,’ she admits. ‘I don’t tell them everything. As long as I am happy that’s enough. They understand that part as well – when they know I am happy, they are happy too. I think that is how friends should support each other.

Coming back to claustrophobia and her career, Lam remembers a time not so long ago she found filming on location intensely suffocating. After debuting in July Rhapsody – written by Ivy Ho, the director of Claustrophobia – in 2002 and taking home Best Supporting Actress and Best New Performer awards in the Golden Horse Awards, Lam immediately became one of the most sought-after actresses in Hong Kong. It was a blessing that turned into a curse. ‘My career started very well and later on it became a burden,’ Lam says. ‘I worked very hard every time because I wanted to get that recognition again – I never knew I was ambitious until then.’ Although Lam was still deeply in love with the film industry, she became terrified of stepping onto each day’s shooting location. ‘I was so tired. I knew it was time to stop for a while, to go travelling or to study.’

Her management weren’t happy, fearing a fickle entertainment industry and that the public would quickly forget their popular star. But Lam knew she had to do something – in the end she just booked a ticket for Paris. ‘So the company knew I really had to go.’ And the experience was refreshing – as the cliché says, everything is possible in Europe’s most romantic city. ‘I was not so in control when I was there. I didn’t really speak French… so it was difficult for me even to buy toothpaste.’ Spending more quality time with herself and immersing herself in the City of Lights’ stunning art galleries and museums, she returned home with a change in attitude.

‘I am now happier and more direct in work. In the past I always wanted to maintain harmony and thought it was my responsibility to make [my co-workers] happy. They actually say I am more ruthless now,’ the actress chuckles. ‘I look forward to being on location and am not scared of it anymore… though sometimes when I am in a bad production, it still feels painful.’ And she bursts into laugher.

‘I am more open to everything – even if it is a bad script, I will try my best to do it. In the past my head would go blank and I didn’t know what to do. Now, however messy it is, I am ready.’ She sees turning 30 last summer as a new start to her life. ‘In your 20s you think you are a young adult, but when you’re 30 you have been through pain and silliness and made many mistakes,’ she reflects. ‘And that helps you make the right choice now.’
Claustrophobia opens on February 12.

Director Speaks: Ivy Ho
Two-time winner of Hong Kong Film Award’s Best Screenplay with Peter Chan’s Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996) and Ann Hui’s July Rhapsody (2001), Ivy Ho is best known for her implicit yet sensitive portrayal of love. She talks about how claustrophobia is related to love.

Why is the film named Claustrophobia? None of the characters actually suffer from it.
There are two things. Firstly I think the name can refer to different genres of film, like a thriller or mysterious film (chuckles). Secondly, it’s because the film is about office romance. Hong Kong is such a crowded city and especially when you are working in an office, you see the same few people everyday. I wanted to write about an environment which is familiar to many. No one likes such a cramped environment – claustrophobia is about how much you can take. No one likes to stay in a prison, but maybe for some having to cram into a corner at a Cha Chan Tan is already like being in a prison.

I have read that your husband suffered a bit from claustrophobia and the title of the film is actually a joke you made to him. How did he react to it?
He didn’t have much reaction actually. In fact, he has a cameo in the film. I think that is the way life is – when you write you take things from your life experience and it is an interesting thing to do. Only people working in creative industry can do that I think.

Claustrophobia is about office romance, but there are no romantic scenes in the film. Why is that?
I think I am old and have seen it all already. When I was younger I also liked romantic things. Now when I look back, I think I was silly and ask ‘why was I touched by these things?’ If I was a young girl, I am sure I would be touched by Titanic. By the time I was twenty-something. I had outgrown that idea of love already.

That happened in your other screenplays also: Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996) is romantic but it is not the typical romance that audience expects, say giving flowers or things like that. Does that have anything to do with your perception of love?
Probably because I don’t get flowers and I envy the people who do, so I don’t write about them (chuckles). I have done a ‘formula love story’ in the past; And I Hate You So (2000) is the closest to a romantic comedy in my career. But I am always curious after the flowers and chocolate, the walk on the beach and the vacation to a lovely Greek island – then what? You cannot rewind those same clips for the rest of your life. I believe the most romantic period is very short – to me the truly romantic time is before you say ‘I love you’ to each other. After that it all goes downhill. It becomes more like a companion or family relationship thereafter.

The film is divided into 8 parts using flashback narration and critics have compared it to films like Memento and 5X2. Why did you write in that way?
There are probably 1000 ways to write an office love story. It can become a tragic traditional love story or a comedy, or that Tom chooses to divorce his wife etc. But I wanted to take a risk – to cut the film into pieces and let the audience imagine what has happened between the two that I didn’t show them. I want the audience to decide what has happened. But of course I know some people will hate it – they want to come to the cinema and be told the whole story.

Now you have made your directorial debut. In the future do you want to direct all your work? In that case you can have control of the screenplay.
The advantage of being a director with writing experience is that I know the characters inside out because everything has been rehearsed in my mind for a thousand times when I wrote the screenplay. I hope in the future I can regularly direct my own screenplay, but I cannot rule out the possibility that I will write for others again. Maybe I want to write a martial art film some day, but I am sure others will be better directors in that genre than me!