By Hans Ebert
By now, almost everything that’s needed to be known about the “Nicole Kidman Eyes Wide Shut Little White Lies Hong Kong Misadventure” is out there. Almost everything.
If not in Hong Kong and seeing how this current government bumbles its way through EVERYTHING and is still here, all the talk about this pretty tepid episode and how it reached this tipping point will be dismissed as some useless dim sum and then sum. But not in Hong Kong 2021.
There are still more than a few loose ends that need to be tied up with some serious explaining to which one is sure the Hong Kong government scriptwriters are busy fine-tuning.
Like what? Like why did some of us know about the actress’s visit to Hong Kong almost a month ago?
We were looking forward to it. When we heard that Nicole Kidman would be staying in a luxury villa in Sai Kung, some of us wanted to visit her and ask her out for some, yes, dim sum.
The news now, and over a month later, is that the actress is staying in a mansion up on the Peak with a reported rent of US$100,000 a month. Who owns this property is not mentioned.
Let’s also not forget that word way back then was that the actress had been granted a special exemption from any quarantine protocol forced upon us mere mortals and second class citizens. It was no big deal. Then.
If one is to believe the official line only now being spun by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau about how this Nicole Kidman visit and project “is conducive to maintain the necessary operations and development of Hong Kong’s economy”, the nagging question is this: How exactly?
This type of Corporate Speak is an insult to one’s intelligence. It’s absolute bollocks. It’s clutching at straws after the horse has bolted. Or something like that.
Frankly, all this could have been avoided if not for all the subterfuge and furious back-pedalling that’s now going on.
In fact, Nicole Kidman’s visit to Hong Hong to oversee the production of the Amazon series “Expats”, ironically about the privileged lifestyle of expatriates here, could have actually helped shine a much needed small light of positivity on Hong Kong.
After all, here’s a city that, especially after the violent pro-democracy riots of 2019 that segued into the coronavirus pandemic and facing an uncertain future, desperately needs a home run to remind the world that it’s still here.
Having one of Hollywood’s leading actresses in town and filming a series based on a book by a Hong Kong writer could have been used to show that life here was returning to some form of normality.
Well, those bridges of opportunities have been detonated. Like, BOOM!
Rightly or wrongly- and I believe very wrongly- Nicole Kidman is painted out to be just another callous diva flaunting her celebrityhood by shopping in Hong Kong flanked by bodyguards at a time when many individuals and businesses here are finding things financially tough going.
To say that the actress was ill-advised in all sides would be an understatement. If her, I would give Hong Kong the two finger salute and leave for where. Maybe Macau?
As for the Hong Kong government, it once again comes across looking like a dilapidated Fawlty Towers.
It also appears starstruck and more than a little hypocritical.
What’s clear is that there appear to be two sets of rules- one for the very rich and the other for those who are not. The also rans.
As for “Expats”, no matter how good a series it might be, it’s going to arrive DOA- Dead On Arrival. The narrative is already written. The backstory about its problems in Hong Kong will be the main story.
This also brings into question what little credibility the Hong Kong government might have had.
There will be more questions than answers about the government’s convoluted and confusing A,B,C and D “rankings” for venues based largely on who has received two vaccinations and the various social distancing and quarantining measures that have been drawn up. But by consulting who?
Because of the “Eyes Wide Shut” fiasco, Chief Executive Carrie Lam and her Ship Of Fools have hit another iceberg. This one is not going to just melt away.
From everything we know, it’s made even some of the government’s staunchest and richest supporters, especially those in the business sector, adopt a “Why bother?” attitude.
What the very privileged in Hong Kong cannot handle is losing that very important and very Chinese thing called Face.
By seen to be kowtowing to a Hollywood actress, there’s the feeling that they haven’t been given the Face to which they believe they are entitled.
Let it never be said that to anyone in Hong Kong there can be a price put on buying Face.
The Hong Kong government seems to have forgotten this.
Big mistake.