The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Ilha Verde, Macau

Well, there are still a few locations that I could include for this film, but I figure it's time to move on to something else so will make this my last post for the time being. It's just a brief shot of a very desolate looking Green Island. If you live in Hong Kong and ever wondered how the Green Island Cement Company (now one of the many companies held within the Cheung Kong/Li Ka-shing portfolio) got its name, well, it was originally set up here in the late 1880s. Once a small island containing a Portuguese army barracks, it's now joined to the peninsula by reclamation and slowly undergoing redevelopment. It's looking a bit desolate in the screen cap below but perhaps something else has been built here in the ten years since the film was made?

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Caverna de Morcegos, Macau

The secret hideout of the mysterious gang that Da Mata is trying to find more information about is located inside a seacave and he takes a boat there. There's a brief reference to Macao (one of several) here as he notices a pair of stockings floating in the water and wonders if they are the same ones discarded by Jane Russell (there's scene in that film where she discards some stockings over the side of the ferry). Anyway, the exterior of the hideout is a real sea cave off the east side of Coloane and it's called the Caverna de Morcegos (second image) and we also see a bit of the rugged coastline there (a rare sight in Macau).

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Rotunda Dr. Carlos A. Correa Pães D'Assumpção, Macau

Some rather sad looking shots of the Year of the Tiger decorations on Rotunda Dr. Carlos A. Correa Pães D'Assumpção on Taipa. This is the morning after the fireworks and the previous evening's goings-on with Da Mata and Cindy. In the background is the former (now closed) Hotel Casino New Century. The bust that can be seen (in image 1 on the right) is of the good Dr Carlos Augusto Corrêa Paes d'Assumpção himself, a famous local lawyer and politician.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Centro para Idosos da Casa Ricci, Macau

Just behind the Igreja de Santo Agostinho is the Largo de Santo Agostinho where the Macau Caritas organisation is based in Casa Ricci. It's a Catholic social services centre and Caritas also has a large presence in Hong Kong.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Igreja de Santo Agostinho, Macau

There's a brief sequence, whilst everyone is doing their new year prayers and watching the fireworks, of a couple of kids messing around on the bollards in front of St Augustine's church. The church is just up the slope from this location. This pair cracked me up with their antics. It's great candid footage.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Fortaleza da Guia, Macau

It doesn't really feature in the story other than as some background filler for the night time fireworks towards the end of the movie, but there are a few shots of the Guia Lighthouse. The bottom image was filmed from outside the Escola Leng Nam (Ling Nan Middle School) on Estrada dos Parses.

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).

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Estrada de Lai Chi Vun, Macau

The story moves to Coloane and we get a nice overview of the shipyards that back onto Estrada de Lai Chi Vun (top image).

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

Next up is the square in front of the Hong Chan Kuan Temple (康真君廟). Here we see the leather-gloved bad guy sit down with the birdcage as he watches the local aunties doing their dance whilst some workman construct what I suspect to be a bamboo tent for the Chinese New Year opera performances.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Vila de Nossa Senhora, Macau

The Vila de Nossa Senhora are a cluster of old houses located on Coloane. Nearby is the Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Dores (Our Lady of Sorrows Church), the Catholic church that used to use the houses for the treatment of local lepers. The houses had been sitting, rotting and falling apart for many years but were quite distinctive with their verandahs - smaller versions of the houses that make up the Taipa Houses Museum on Taipa. It seems that someone in the Macau Govt took note and they have recently undergone some renovation and decoration (looks like one might now be a cafe, but I'm not sure as I have never been and currently can't go).

They can be seen (pre-renovation) after Da Mata has found the cave-like hideout of the mysterious gang that are after him and Cindy. Although there is another brief shot later in the film which features the view from the church looking up towards the houses (last image).

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Cemitério Protestante, Macau

So the bad guys have a rendezvous in the Protestant Cemetery in Macau where they exchange the mysterious bird cage. This is one of the better known cemeteries for tourists because it contains the tomb (tomb, or just a memorial? I don't know actually) of George Chinnery (see middle image) who was a famous landscape painter in the far east with many well known pieces painted in India, Hong Kong, as well as Macau.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Cemitério São Miguel Arcanjo, Macau

The bad guys meet up in a cemetery to exchange the mysterious bird cage, but the establishing shot for that scene (in next post) includes shots of a different cemetery, the St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery, or Cemitério São Miguel Arcanjo as it's known in Portuguese. A few of the headstones from this cemetery also feature in the closing stages of the film (see bottom two images).

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Rua da Escola Náutica, Macau

As Da Mata continues his search for Cindy, he wanders down to the waterfront and we see a few brief shots of Rua da Escola Náutica.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Calçada de Santo Agostinho, Macau

A brief night time shot of Calçada de Santo Agostinho featuring the (still operating?) "She Feng Tenement" real estate letting agency. Actually, the address of this business says Rua Central, but actually this is a very narrow street that leads off from there close to the Teatro Dom Pedro V.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - former Bela Vista Hotel, Macau

So even though Da Mata is supposed to be at the Club Militar, the film makers have bamboozled me a bit by intermingling the club footage with the interior from the Portuguese Consul's residence - the former Bela Vista Hotel.

The reason I recognised the staircase in the following shots was because the same one appeared in Pierce Brosnan's Around the World in 80 Days, which I covered several years ago. I have no knowledge of the production of this film, but I get the feeling the club was not up for anyone filming inside and the Consul probably welcomed his fellow compatriots with open arms, but I'm just guessing.

The initial image is of the road up to the building. The camera is located on one of the hairpin bends on Calçada do Bom Parto where we can see up to the former hotel and down to the main road. This is one of the establishing shots used for the Club Militar footage.

After the external shots of the Club Militar, and then the cheeky through-the-window shots, we are given these images of what most people would assume to be a staircase inside the club, but obviously now you know differently. If you click on the Around the World in 80 Days link above, you'll see the same columns and banister (as well as entrance stairs).

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Club Militar, Macau

Da Mata is told he might find Cindy at the Club Militar where she normally goes for dinner, so he heads over there. We are given a few shots of the club interior, shot through a netted window because I reckon the club didn't let the film crew in. This would also explain why this scene also includes interior footage from another venue completely and tries to pass it off (as far as I can tell) as the same place. I'll include that location in the next post.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Jardim Municipal Dr. Sun Yat Sen, Macau

Right next door to the border crossing between Macau and neighouring Zhuhai is the Jardim Municipal Dr. Sun Yat Sen, or Dr Sun Yat Sen Park. The film includes a few shots from inside the park looking across the border towards the development going on in Zhuhai on the other side. In fact most of the development was most likely for the newly built Zhuhai railway station that now obscures much of the view in front of the buildings in image 3 below.