The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Fabrica de Panchoes Iec Long, Taipa

The next film on my list is a Portuguese arthouse film made by João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata in 2012. A Última Vez Que Vi Macau (Eng: The Last Time I Saw Macao) centres on an unseen protagonist whi is retruning to his childhood home (Macau) from Portugal to help out a friend who is in trouble with some shady characters. The majority of the film uses footage that is really more documentary-like in the way it has been filmed, with a plot narration by the central character (called Guerra da Mata - hence why I have put that director's name in the main title of the post, I assume it was him providing the narration and physical presence) as he negotiates his way around his old, but now unfamiliar, childhood home in search of his friend. The protagonists and antagonists are only ever seen from the waist down, if at all, and much of the plot moves forward through the narration and an overlaid soundtrack of other characters. I suspect, although can't confirm, that some of the onscreen characters that do appear, had no idea they were being filmed but were incorporated into the plot via the overlaid dialogue/soundtrack.

The film begins in the middle of a wargame as a bunch of kids are running around a derelict site shooting BB pellets at each other, only for one of them to be killed by a real gun. This is the incident that sparks da Matas friend, Candy, to send him an email asking him to come to Macau.

The wargame scene was shot inside the walls of the Fabrica de Panchoes Iec Long in Taipa. In some shots you can see the old concrete protectve walls that stood between the various buildings (I assume they were there to limit to damage of any explosions that may occur during the firecracker production process. You can see some of the buildings featured in the screencaps below on João Botas' excellent Macau Antigo blog.