J Paul Johnson
The kids that populate Lawrence Lau’s (aka Lawrence Ah Man) Spacked Out might be charitably characterized as, in social work parlance, at risk, though to say so seems like nothing so much as an understatement. Set in the satellite city of Teun Mun, a place Hong Kong had misguidedly imagined could be a thriving suburb, Spacked Out‘s four young protagonists revel in their wayward youth without any hope for a future, at just 13 years old experimenting with sex, drugs, petty crime, and self-harm. Remastered in a stunning 2K restoration, the Chinese coming-of-age gem—which debuted at the Hong Kong Film Festival in 2000—opens for a one-week New York exclusive theatrical run and an exclusive streaming release.
Four BFFs make up the primary cast, young ride-or-die chicks in a social milieu where die seems as distinct a possibility as ride. Cookie (Debbie Tam) is the quiet one, a little less extroverted than her friends—and a little less street-smart. She’s feeling unwell, having a hard time tolerating the physical punishment meted out at school, and her period is late: her sex partner told her they didn’t need protection “the first time.” It’s a ruse her wiser, more experienced friends have a laugh at. They’ve been around the block, having had multiple abortions. No problem, they say; we’ll get you one, too.
Banana (Angela Au), in fact, says she’s had three. She’s the most overtly sexually forward of the three, enticing boys on the phone during class, on the lookout to seduce her next conquest. The other two BFFs, Bean Curd (Maggie Poon) and Sissy (Christy Cheung), are part-time lovers. Tough, shorn, butch Bean Curd is always spoiling for a fight, while entitled princess Sissy preens about like a pre-Kardashian famewhore. Their relationship, such as it is, blows hot and cold like Bean Curd’s wild temper. A fifth girl, Mosquito (Hoi-Man Lam), sends them letters from reform school, one of several dead ends any of them might find themselves in.
Spacked Out charts, with an intimate and verité-style approach, just a few days in the girls’ lives, from the doldrums of their ineffective schooling to their tacky shopping-mall hangouts and quickie hookups. The childlike, innocent imagery of Sanrio characters and stuffed toys constantly contrasts with the girls’ increasingly risky behaviors: in one scene, Banana brings a local boy home to her apartment, where her inattentive mother sits a few feet away, for some heavy petting, her stockinged feet kicking away the coterie of stuffed animals in her tiny bunk while she gets it on with her guy. The Hello Kitties and Bad Batz Manus are no longer symbols of childlike joy and innocence but of those lost.
Twelve years following his debut feature Gangs (1988), a sober and shocking account of underage Triads that won Best Feature at the Hong Kong Film Awards, Spacked Out follows some similar territory, except with an all-female cast of characters. As the four girls venture from the familiar territory of their schools, homes, and malls to the big city for Cookie’s abortion, the risks they take escalate, especially at a wild party with a local boy gang with easy access to drugs. There, Cookie’s need for affection, Banana’s for sex, Sissy’s for attention, and Bean Curd’s for violence all converge in a harrowing, life-threatening climax.
It’s not clear at all whether they can all survive. Spacked Out‘s grimy urban drama doesn’t hold out any false hope for its protagonists’ future; their malaise seems too deeply set in a milieu that simply doesn’t care about their future, much less plan for it. The friendly presence of a more accomplished, self-confident girl a few classes above them suggests that it might not be impossible to grow and move out of the suburban hell in which they’re all trapped. But even while the girls can be their own worst enemies, they are all each other has: the film is a testament to friendship that can’t thrive but can perhaps survive the worst Teun Mun can throw at them.
Spacked Out will open December 29 at New York City’s Metrograph Theater with other cities to follow at www.kani-releasing.com. Spacked Out will stream exclusively on Metrograph At Home. 91 mins / Hong Kong / 2000 / Cantonese with English subtitles.
