Danielle Solzman
Leave the Bus Through the Broken Window is among the most unique documentaries to have premiered during this year’s SXSW Film Festival.
The film runs just under 70 minutes, making it among the shorter feature-length films during the fest. To be honest, there isn’t much to this documentary. Filmmaker Andrew Hevia happened to have found himself in Hong Kong to make a film about an art fair, Art Basel. This comes on the heels of a breakup in a relationship and just wanting to get as far away from home as possible. Perfectly understandable.
The main person that he wants to show in this film is Hugo. Hugo is an artist living in Miami and a friend of Hevia’s friend. Apparently, when people from Miami meet one another, the thing to ask is what high school they attended and if they knew your cousin. Take away the cousin portion and this would be the same for Louisville. But I digress. Unfortunately, Hugo happens to decline all opportunities. As a result, this film becomes something completely different than the original goal.
Some of the funnier moments come when the film compares the size of Hevia’s housing in Hong Kong to that of earlier apartments in both New York and Miami. Hevia’s brief stay in Hong Kong sees him in a furnished 40 square foot apartment. The cost? Less than $500 USD a month! While it may be a bargain in prices, the living quarters don’t look all that viable to say the least. The Miami apartment was 16×20 ft while New York saw a massive downgrade to 8×10 ft.
Hevia also takes us on a tour through some of the the sites found within the Hong Kong malls. The crown restaurant at one of them is none other than Bubba Gump Shrimp and Co. Who would have ever thought this would be possible? I guess people are fans of Forrest Gump all around the world. Aside from this, Hevia is able to meet all kinds of new people. One of them is Olena Rykhlivska, a member of the Ukrainian National Snowboarding Team.
Hevia makes the choice to go for one of the robotic text-to-voice type narrations. This is a decision that does manage to set the documentary apart from some of the other ones to premiere during the fest. As far as the film itself? Leave the Bus Through the Broken Window is seemingly okay.
DIRECTOR: Andrew Hevia
