Anthology films do not have the finest track record; they might not even have a good one. (New York’s Quad Cinema created an entire series centered on this problem.) Time and again, though, we see the names of however-many directors and actors we admire and think, well, there must be something to take in here—that much talent’s got to yield a worthwhile experience. Fool me twice, shame on me, but I’m made hopeful by the lineup for Septet: The Story of Hong Kong, a seven-part, seven-decade-spanning view of the city that’s produced, to my mind, the most consistently admirable oeuvre in world cinema.
And it is a great lineup: Sammo Hung, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Yuen Woo-ping, Johnnie To, Ringo Lam (offering his final work), and Tsui Hark. Notwithstanding the accompaniment by horrible music, this trailer hints at a panoply of styles and tones, though to what end remains to be seen.
Watch the trailer below, ahead of its premiere at October’s Festival Lumière:
