Hand Rolled Cigarette (2020)

IMDb plot summary: A story of how a retired British-Chinese soldier and a marginalized young South Asian man face the plight of being abandoned by society.

Directed by Kin Long Chan. Starring Ka-Tung Lam, Bipin Karma, and Singh Hartihan Bitto.

Hand Rolled Cigarette tells the story of a retired soldier who finds himself sheltering a young man on the run from some vengeful drug dealers, and the two form a reluctant bond. The introduction of this movie focuses on a group of soldiers needing to find new paths in life after the Hong Kong Military Service Corps is dissolved, and that was an interesting intro, as it was something I had very little knowledge of and was interested to learn about. But the movie doesn't explore that aspect very much and just turns the story into a typical neo-noir crime thriller, which was a disappointing downturn. The movie leans heavily into the grungy neo-noir visuals I find not only unappealing but difficult to parse, and I had trouble tracking the many different characters crossing paths in the story. The beginning and the end hold together as individually strong moments, but I was less than enthused with most of the middle. May be worth a watch for those inclined to enjoy the genre, but otherwise you can skip it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Hand Rolled Cigarette < Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

Hand Rolled Cigarette < The Man with One Red Shoe

Hand Rolled Cigarette > Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

Hand Rolled Cigarette > 101 Dalmatians (1996)

Hand Rolled Cigarette < Mother (2009)

Hand Rolled Cigarette > The Final Countdown

Hand Rolled Cigarette > Passion

Hand Rolled Cigarette < Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Hand Rolled Cigarette > The Jazz Singer (1927)

Hand Rolled Cigarette > Copying Beethoven

Hand Rolled Cigarette > Morocco

Final spot: #2914 out of 3709, or 21%.