words kat yeh

A local documentary about an unusual classical musician is a surprise hit.

As with most Hong Kongers, I suspect, it is not often I would willingly go to the movies to watch a documentary. So, admittedly with some guilt, I was disinclined to drag myself all the way to the Broadway Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei to check out a feature-length factual film. However, after discovering KJ was about a local Hong Kong piano prodigy, I, being a music major and also familiar with Hong Kong’s music education scene, shrugged off my reservations and made the effort to go.

As I thought, it seems I am not the only one who can take or leave documentary movies. Cheung King Wai, the director of KJ, admits the local market is not receptive to them, particularly biographies based on classical musicians. However, Cheung was pleasantly surprised when, at the presale for his film’s two showings in July, both screenings sold out in four days. ‘KJ is, so far, very popular and quite highly discussed,’ he says. ‘It is a real breakthrough for the industry.’ In fact the unprecedented demand to see the film has led Broadway Cinematheque to increase the number of screenings to 37, with even further showings at the AMC Festival Walk and the Palace IFC.

A former musician himself, Cheung switched careers after completing a film degree at the City University of New York in 2002 and has since been fully immersed in the local movie scene. His recent work includes the script to Ann Hui On Wah’s Night and Fog, which won the 2005 Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum’s award for best story, and two of his own documentaries, All’s Right with the World (2007) and KJ, both of which featured in the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

KJ follows the life of local musical genius Wong Ka Jeng, who, at the age of 11, won a prestigious award that saw him make his concerto debut playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 1 in C major with a professional orchestra in the Czech Republic. Touching on subjects such as the meaning of life, God and the artistic process, the director’s six-year conversations with KJ reveal a young man inspired by his piano teacher and in conflict with his peers and parents. bc sat down with Cheung King Wai one recent rainy evening to learn a bit more about KJ and the production.

Why did you specifically pick Ka Jeng for your documentary?
In 2002, I went to the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival and watched a whole host of competitions. You’d be amazed – the standards of the kids at these competitions are incredibly high. I was so stunned. Music is something I relate to as I used be a musician, so I asked myself whether I could make something out of it. In the very beginning I picked 13 kids ranging from 16 to 18 years old, but when I wanted to start filming I came across a multitude of problems like schools not letting me film on their premises, and so on. I soon cut it down to three pianists and then whittled it down to just KJ because, to be honest, all the others were pretty uninteresting! They literally arrived home from school, practiced, ate dinner, practiced, did a bit of homework, practiced a bit more, then went to bed – this would go on for days on end. I couldn’t make a story out of that.

So what made KJ stand out from the others?
I chose KJ because he is an uncommon, socially marginalised person. He wasn’t like all the other children that I filmed who just happily practiced all day, every day, without questioning why they were doing it and for what purpose. As you can see in the film, from a young age KJ already asks insightful fundamentalist questions such as why humans exist, what is the point of living and practicing the piano – I believe that every career-driven person will stumble upon these questions at some point or other and, until they do, they will not truly understand the point of their existence and why they go to work every day. His questioning is intriguing for someone his age. When I first filmed him, when he was 11, and he suddenly came out with so many philosophical questions, his dad was quite embarrassed because he had never heard KJ talk like that. I don’t really know why KJ did that. He did the same thing in 2007 as well.

Did you foresee that the film would take six years to complete? When you first began shooting, it must have been hard to know when you would finish.
I never actually had a fixed deadline in my mind for the project. After I went with KJ to film in the Czech Republic back in 2002, I put the project on a hiatus for a few years. But I never forgot the fascinating boy I had met, and so the project remained in the back of my mind for years. I just knew that it was an important one. In 2006, I finished All’s Right with the World and still had capital flowing in from CNEX, so I took the opportunity to finish the film.


You didn’t film KJ between 2002 and 2007. What did you think of him when you filmed him again in 2007?
In 2007 the first thing we did was the interview. It was all very sudden. You recall from the film that this interview was one where he told us his deepest thoughts – details of his parents’ divorce and so on. I had no idea and did not expect that he would open up this much. After that first interview, I was tremendously overwhelmed and very uncomfortable, to be honest.

About KJ as a person – I never assume anything about anyone when I produce my documentaries. Every time I see him I pretend I am meeting him for the first time so there are no pre-assumptions. He obviously comes across as a very arrogant and cocky lad, but a person is never simply good or bad – that’s just Hollywood. He is also a very vulnerable person. This is a documentary, a personal account. People are multi-faceted.

The film strongly focuses on KJ’s outlook on life and his pursuit of musical perfection, but we don’t see much of KJ’s daily sacrifices, such as practice.
I’ve come across this question many a time, especially when the film screened in Beijing and Taipei. Of course he practiced. Being a musician myself, I can honestly tell you that if you pursue this career path, you will have no other life. You have to practice from morning till night. I myself studied music before I went to America to do film – before that I had no idea that I even had any interest in film, until one day I decided that I had to expand my career options and asked myself what else I was good at. This cutthroat industry is tough to succeed in and really requires one to start from infancy.

KJ was forced as a child to practice and mentions that his father’s sole aim was to push him to compete. Does your movie have a message for Hong Kong’s parents and their seemingly oppressive attitude towards music education?
Firstly, it has to be said that if you want to be a performer of say Lang Lang’s calibre, someone who plays hundreds of concerts a year, your pianistic technique needs to be flawlessly honed by the time you are 10. This is an undeniable fact of the industry. You can’t wait until you’re 20 before you decide to focus. The real question, however, is how often does a 10-year-old come by with the grit and determination to do this? It is very rare. Lang Lang’s relationship with his family was very tense as well.

Secondly, about pressure: there was an article in Ming Pao a while ago describing three scenarios in which a child is pressured by parents: a) the child doesn’t realize it; b) the child chooses to ignore it; and c) the child rebels. KJ is evidently not of the first type. Before, Chinese youths always upheld a value that they had to blindly obey authority: their parents, the government, and so on. Is there a new value in Hong Kong now where if one doesn’t agree with authority, one can voice opinions through outlets such as the media? I don’t know.

In the film, KJ’s piano teacher, Nancy Loo, exerts a very big influence on him. What is their relationship like?
You never see KJ’s mother in the film – she doesn’t have much of a hand in his musical upbringing. Ms Loo is his musical mother figure. Even now whenever KJ has a problem, let it be musically related or not, he will still call Ms Loo. When I first approached her with the idea of the film, she was reluctant to go forward with it because her relationship with KJ is quite strained. It’s mainly to do with their different religious beliefs, but also Ms Loo is a very modest, calm person – just look at KJ’s cocksure attitude! So it’s pretty easy to see why they don’t see eye to eye. However, Ms Loo has seen this film six times now. After her first screening she immediately called me up and told me that it made her understand KJ more and that she has fewer negative feelings towards him now. She was surprised! She’s even brought her students along to a screening.

What was your biggest challenge in making this film?
People have feelings. When you get to know someone for this long, you have to really think carefully about how to present them in the film. You don’t want to upset them, but there’s also the element of truthfulness as well. It’s finding the fine balance between both factors. The documentary is an exhibition of his life, after all – people’s lives contain both good and bad things, and you have to balance that.

How is KJ doing now?
After finishing Form 6 in Hong Kong, KJ went to Indiana University to major in piano. Not long after arriving, he won a school competition playing a Mozart concerto and is now concentrating on his piano studies.

KJ opens on July 16. Read our review on page 39.