Spacked Out

Lawrence Ah Mon's 2000 Hong Kong film follows Cookie, thirteen, living in Tuen Mun. She suspects she is pregnant and does not know who to tell. Her mother has left and her father pays no attention. The film watches these young people without judging them; the narrative gives school, drugs and the friendship group in ordinary flow and adds no adult voice from outside. The cast are not professionals and the talk is close to improvisation. The film was argued over for its realism and ran into classification trouble on release. Who it's for: viewers of Hong Kong realist cinema and youth narratives. Who it's not for: viewers for whom characters of this age shown with drugs and sex would be difficult.