Match Point

The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward and you win…or maybe it doesn't, and you lose."

I was never afraid to admit how great a part chance plays in life. But I've also long accepted that luck is simply lacking in mine. I was never handed anything without hard work. And all the pulling through I've done, I didn't do it with luck. It was only recently that I realized how much luck I actually have. Apparently, I only never noticed it because instead of small doses throughout, my luck had been accumulating all this time until it's presented to me in a big chunk.

Match Point is a story of love vs. lust; all vs. nothing; and truth vs. deception. The match point is not when attraction turns into obsession, but when this obsession conflicts with ambition.

The way Jonathan Rhys Meyers played the greedy and lustful Chris Wilton reminded me of Dan in Closer. His seeming devotion to Chloe and his desire for Nola—two women of contrasting qualities, very much mirrored Dan's feelings for Alice and Anna. Here's how Rhys Meyers summed up his purposeful and callous character: "He's like every man out there. Given the right situation, any man would be tempted to cheat on his wife or girlfriend if the woman of his dreams walked in. Most guys wouldn't think twice about it; they would just go and then suffer the consequences. You know if you go to bed with her, you're in for a world of pain and guilt and lying…and eventually, you'll be found out. You can't get away with it; at some point, it's going to come back and bite you in the ass. But you do it anyway, because your animal instinct wants what it wants. It's like man's morality versus man's nature."

I didn't think Lost in Translation was all that. But Scarlett Johansson managed to make a mark in the role of Nola Rice, whose sensuality is only a performance to mask her insecurity. And her neurosis is ultimately uncovered by her fixation on the wrong man. "There is a certain desperation in a person who is unable to live in the moment, but is always wanting more. When you're in that kind of situation and unsatisfied with your life, it can be a dangerous place to be, mentally and emotionally."

The irony is that despite all the complications between Chris and Nola, the presumed victim Chloe Hewett remains unharmed. Being oblivious is what kept her confident and happy. Woody described it as the arrogance of class. "Nothing has ever gone wrong in her life, so she doesn't expect it ever will." In fact, the entire Hewett family was untouched by the tragic events.

A side note: It took some time to adapt to a Woody Allen film being set in London with a cast that spoke a whole different set of slangs with heavy accents. But the newly added Chinese subtitles to HKIFF films were just impossible. I basically missed all the good quotes at the climax of the film because the audience wouldn't stop whoaing and wowing and applauding at what they read. And the whole time I was making a conscious effort to not read the subtitles in order to truly appreciate the film as all Woody Allen films are meant to be appreciated—for the brilliantly written dialog. HKIFF has clearly made extra efforts to draw in a local audience this year, making it that much less appealing for the rest of us.