CLAUSTROPHOBIA [CHAN MAT]
by Ivy Ho Hong Kong 2008 35 mm 100 min. OV Engl.+Chin. ST
Pearl has quietly fallen in love with her boss Tom, who is married with a family. When the story begins, Tom asks Pearl to interview for another job. Wounded, Pearl demands that Tom terminates her. The gauntlet has been thrown down. This is in fact the finale of Pearl and Tom’s relationship in this movie which is told in eight scenes retrospectively.
Hong Kong’s best woman screenwriter Ivy Ho (JULY RHAPSODY) makes her directorial debut with CLAUSTROPHOBIA, using eight scenes and multiple characters to explore the complications and the irony of workplace romance and politics. In a space as small, crowded and claustrophobic as the office, love doesn’t grow – it incubates and breeds, like a virus.
