The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Largo do Cais, Macau

The story moves on a few metres to the Largo do Cais - the main square on Coloane where the old ferry pier is located (these days Taipa and Coloane, formerly two separate islands, have been merged via the Cotai Strip). As with the rest of the film, the footage appears to be candid stuff of the locals going about their business, incorporated into the story via the post-production soundtrack. In this case we are led to believe that the shop owners here are all members of the mysterious gang that has been after Da Mata and his friend Cindy throughout the film.

If you have been following this blog for a while you may recall this same area stood in for Brasil many years ago for the opening scenes of Largo Winch. You can see the same blue/green corrugated iron shack in both films (image 3).

Around the World in 80 Days - Pierce Brosnan (1989) - Coloane, Macau

When Fogg and the princess arrive in Yokohama, they finally catch up with Passepartout who has joined an acrobatic troupe. In reality, Yokohama is in fact the village of Coloane in Macau. The main scenes were filmed in Largo Eduardo Marques - the famous square that houses the Chapel of St Francis Xavier. In fact you can see the chapel at the back of picture 3, with its recognisable "天主堂" script just visible above the picture of Mt. Fuji.

The last picture is facing back towards the harbour and the set is obviously there to cover up the obelisk that sits in front of the square.

Largo Winch - Tomer Sisley (2008) - Coloane Part 3 - Rua Dos Navegantes, Macau

Immediately after escaping the scuffle on a motorbike, the pair race down the nearby road, Rua Dos Navegantes. You can see the same crooked tree in the background of the Streetview grab as well.

At the end of this section of road is a small circular piazza next to the local temple (Sam Shing Temple). In the film a car pulls out and they narrowly avoid it. Notice the tarpaulin behind it - our Streetview images reveal what was behind there. I'm not sure if it's a new building or just being renovated when the film crew passed by.

After a rather fast chase through various roads and small lanes inside Coloane Village itself (the locations of which I can't exactly confirm due to the lack of Streetview and other photography) the pair eventually stop next to a small hut with green railings on the front. It just so happens this spot is in the same small round piazza where they just avoided crashing into the car (above). I can't get a better angle on Streetview though.

Largo Winch - Tomer Sisley (2008) - Coloane Part 2 - Largo Do Cais, Macau

A rather apt setting considering the name of the film. Largo do Cais is the small square that fronts the old Coloane pier. This is the area where Largo comes out from having his tattoo to confront the thugs.

Other than the tattoo hut, the buildings in the vicinity are all still there so I can only assume they were real and not created solely for the film. Look carefully on the right of the bottom picture and you can just make out the edge of the old pier. Perhaps the most striking thing is that since the film was shot, builders have managed to build a whole new building in the space on the left of the bottom picture - you can see it on the left of the top picture below.

On this lower picture you can see the tiled picture (of a boat) on the floor that was also captured in the film (screen grab #3). In the film the tattoo hut was in the gap between there and the blue building on the left.

Largo Winch - Tomer Sisley (2008) - Coloane Part 1 - Coloane Village Beachfront, Macau

Largo Winch is a rather entertaining 2008 French film (based on a comic, I believe) that follows the adventures of a business tycoon's son as he investigates and seeks to avenge his father's murder. When the film opens we find that Largo, the main character, is wandering around a Brazilian village seeking out a tattoo artist (played by Eddy Ko).

I'll be honest, when I first watched this film I did wonder if they had actually made the effort to go all the way to Brazil to film - but of course, this was filmed largely over here and if you look closely you can see that these initial scenes were actually filmed in Coloane - the southernmost part of the Macau territory. It's a fairly long sequence with lots of stuff to see so I will split it into several posts.

It looks nice and golden there in the film, I don't think the reality lives up to it though. It's a long time since I was in Coloane and I have no plans to return in the near future, so here is a reasonable angle courtesy of Streetview. Look carefully and you can see the same white building on the left hand side of the frame in the screen capture (next to the lamp post in the picture below). That building is, of course, actually in Mainland China.

As you can see the stilt houses are very much real and line the waterfront for a couple of hundred metres before terminating just before Coloane's old colonial pier.