Teresa Mak in "Love is a Many Stupid Thing"

There are a number of things you can count on in a Wong Jing comedy including plenty of attractive actresses, generally dressed (or undressed) to hightlight their beauty. A movie from the Wong Jing cinema factory in the 1980s and 1990s might look as if it were slapped together in a few weeks--because they often were. Confused plots and semi-improvised dialog were either part of the charm or real annoyances to his audiences. But Wong always knew how to get a movie cast, shot, edited and to the distributor on time and under budget.

A typical example of this is "Love is a Many Stupid Thing" which features Teresa Mok as a tough Hong Kong police sergeant leading a squad of lovely police constables. She falls in love with the wrong guy, a handsome cop who is actually a mole from one of the Triads sent to infiltrate and spy on the police. Her moods go from coy to friendly to bloodthristy--in one scene she storms into a conference room and stomps the suspect then flirts with the officer who was questioning him. This is a movie in which Teresa Mak is one of an ensemble--probably the lead co-star if such a thing exists. It is a guy's movie with Eric Tsang and Chapman To keeping the slapstick humor going. Here are some pictures from "Love is a Many Stupid Thing".

The first two show her in uniform. Many actresses look great in police uniforms--Cynthia Khan, for example, clocked a lot of time as a Hong Kong policewoman--and Teresa looks quite fetching here as Sergeant Cool Lady:



Cool Lady (I am not making this up although it probably made a lot more sense when said in either Mandarin or Cantonese) attempts to involve herself in the conversation Watson (Raymond Wong Ho-Yin) is having with another cop on how to approach the suspect played by Tony Ho Wah-Chiu and who is described in the credits as "insane sex offender". She is already getting a bit wild-eyed since she has a crush on Watson.



Things develop poorly during the questioning to the mounting concern of Cool Lady and her squad who are watching through the two way mirror.

Here she tries to act demure and girlish toward Watson who she just rescued from the suspect who was smashing Watson's genitals under the table in the interrogation room. After kicking the bad guy in the head she simpers at the object of her affection:

One of the trademarks of Wong's work is actresses in their underwear. Watson and Cool Lady are staking out the bad guys from a rooftop. They fall off but each are able to grab a string of lights to slow thier fall. Cool Lady's dress gets ripped off leaving her on the ground in the rain in her not very revealing lingerie.
It isn't necessary to have the actress wet and partially undressed, of course. A simple snap front blouse that just barely closes over Cool Lady's breasts with the snaps pulling but not quite gaping is a slightly more understated look although still very effective:
Looking shocked, amazed, horrified or just plain angry is the stock in trade of any professional actress. Here Cool Lady has discovered that not only is Watson an underworld informant and is planning to kill her but that he never planned on marrying her.

"Love is a Many Stupid Thing" is not a bad movie for fans of Teresa Mak Ga-Kei. While she doesn't have much screen time she does pop up throughout the film and is often featured in the scenes she is in. The movie itself is funny in parts, dreadful in parts and occasionally confusing--in other words what one expects from Wong Jing.

Reviews and Reviewers

Last month my friend Chick Young, proprietor of the blog Trash-Aesthetics a person who knows more about film, criticism and theory than I will if I live to be 100 and who really loves movies, posted a short and scathing discussion of movie reviewers based on the published reactions to “Watchman”. While six weeks ago is a century or so in blog time it is still well worth reading (as his entire blog) and can be found here.

There are many examples of sloppy thinking/writing/viewing among both the waning number of reviewers for newspapers and the explosive growth of online reviews there have been some excellent reviewers. Paul Fonoroff, when he wrote for the "South China Morning Post" was one of them. Like everyone else in daily or weekly film coverage he wrote under deadline pressure, wrote about whatever opened that week and had a specific amount of space allotted to him. His audience were the Anglophone residents of the then Crown Colony. His reviews were published in At the Hong Kong Movies: 600 Reviews from 1988 till the Handover.

While Fonoroff was very tough on screenwriters and directors it is the writers get the brunt of his scorn. Almost invariably when he doesn’t like a movie he faults the script. Fonoroff loves actors, none more than Chow Yun Fat and Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk, and he is generally at least supportive of the efforts of those in front of the camera. He knows good action scenes when he sees them and describes them well. A civil libertarian, he was very critical of movies in which the police show "a sneering attitude toward human rights" (from a review of Organized Crime and Triad Bureau) and wrote that "human rights in Hong Kong would be all but extinct if life ever imitated the 'art' of Twist in his article on that movie. It must have been a long decade for him since it seemed that there was a new "Danny Lee will beat you into submission" movie every month on the Jade screen.

His reviews were full of short and wonderfully descriptive allusions. In writing about True Love, Fonoroff mentions Sandra Ng and her "special brand of inelegance", as good description of her look and style as any I have seen. He wrote that "Robotrix looks like a Chinese Robocop invested with the spirit of Russ Meyer" and that in Point of No Return Jacky Chueng and Patrick Tam "are so unconvincing that one feels like putting out a contract on them. And I don't mean a movie contract".
With undergraduate studies in Chinese and a Master’s degree in cinema, knowledge of both Mandarin and Cantonese and long residence in Hong Kong, Fonoroff has the local lore, theoretical background and linguistic ability to cover Hong Kong movies in great depth. Most importantly he really loves the cinematic output of the former Crown Colony. This shines through in many reviews, not least in the Jade Leung vehicle Fox Hunter where he writes: "The finale set in a Guangdong department store s deftly choreographed. It’s unlike anything seen outside the Cantonese screen, as realistic as a Fred Astaire dance number and nearly as much fun."

From Fox Hunter, as is the image at the top of this post:

Another movie that Foronoff really liked (as did I) was Green Snake. He wrote that "The story outline is familiar to Chinese audiences from Singapore to Shanghai. Green Snake (Maggie Cheung) and White Snake (Joey Wong) are reptilian sisters who assume human form to seduce any hapless mortals who catch their fancy. Looking as they do like Maggie Cheung and Joey Wong, these human snakes are pretty hard to resist".

"What distinguishes Green Snake from its predecessors is both its imagination and humor. This is no museum piece rendering of a Chinese classic. The sight of the elegantly gowned Green Snake sticking out her tongue to nab a tasty fly, or her efforts to engage in the most unsnakely activity of shedding tears lightens up the proceedings considerably."

Three images from Green Snake

Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson has died after a head injury suffered in a skiing accident in Canada during a family holiday. This post doesn't fit with the stated purpose of this blog but she has been one of my favorite actresses since I first saw her over 20 years ago in "Gothic". Natasha Richardson has been in quite a few bad movies--I have seen many of them only because they included her, as has been the case with Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk and Cate Blanchette, two other enormously talented actresses.

There are potted biographies, family histories and obituaries all over the net so I won't bother linking any here.

May perpetual light shine upon her.

As Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire", May 19, 2005, New York Times

"The White Countess", 2005

And one more

Gillian Chung, Angelina Jolie, Rock Hudson and the uses of Thai sorcery

Hong Kong residents who visit Thailand and stray from typical tourist paths into brothels and bars are set upon and sometimes followed home by evil spirits. Or so it would seem from the movies—"The Eternal Evil of Asia" is one example of the genre. At her news conference the other day it would have been fitting if Ah Gil had summoned one of these demons to help her deal with the intrusive, vulgar and imbecilic questions from the press. The reporter who asked her whether she had to sell a condo unit in order to support her family could have gotten the same treatment as Bobby Au-Yeung Jan-Wa, ventilated with a few flourescent tubes while the one who wanted to know is she still loved Edison might look good as a a penis-head which is only one of the fates suffered by Elvis Tsui Kam-Kong when their characters crossed a powerful wizard in Thailand.

Bobby Au-Yeung Jan-Wa Elvis Tsui Kam-Kong

In the United States we have become used to the paparazzi and the celebrities they stalk and who owe at least part of their fame to the photographers they try (or seem to try) to avoid but Lindsay, Paris and other objects of the diva-starved masses have it quite easy compared to what Hong Kong celebrities must deal with, given the conservative audiences in the Special Administrative Region and their demands that popular entertainers have lives paralleling their screen images. The Hollywood studio PR systems that lasted until the 1950s are a good parallel. Rock Hudson was a manly man, Doris Day was the wholesome girl next door, Debbie Reynolds was a sweet as Tammy. No one expects that kind of organized hypocracy now (there are a different set of lies to retail to the credulous) but is seems from this western point of view that it is alive and well in Hong Kong.

Gillian Chung is returning from her year wandering in the wilderness, hoping to reignite her movie career and, to the extent possible, put the tawdry Edison Chan episode behind her. One wishes her all the success in the world, particularly given the insanity of the reaction of the Hong Kong press. A good summary of the gory details of her reception from AsianFanatics is here.
The great lengths to which celebrities go to insure their privacy was shown when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt decided that the birth their daughter Shiloh should take place in the southern African nation of Namibia. They are wealthy and not afraid to spend their wealth on privacy; have excellent international contacts and credibility due to Jolie's work with the United Nations refugee efforts (UNHCR) and complete cooperation from the Namibian government, who said foreign journalists wishing to cover the birth must have written permission from Pitt and Jolie to enter the country and obtain a work permit.

Few of the targets of celebrity-stalking journos have the money, logistic capabilty and connections that allow them to dictate immigration rules in a country of their choosing, so they wind up answering questions that shouldn't be asked. It seems as if Gillian Chung got through this ordeal relatively well, due in significant part to the unstinting support of the Tough Jeansmith clothing line. It must have been the first time in Hong Kong that an announcement for a new line of jeans by a local company drew over 100 press participants.
Here is a picture of her during the conference
And another the next morning, looking much happier at a Jeansmith store in Mongkok, surrounded by her fans
Gillian Chung is not a great actress but she had been a hard working and very professional performer, seemed to get as much from her talent as the script and director would allow and was willing to promote her projects tirelessly. She clearly had no sense of how to deal with the firestorm that the publication of her pictures with Edison Chen caused but may have done the right thing in simply disappearing for a year. It is interesting that her comeback is as a spokesperson for a clothing line. While Jeansmith got more ink and airtime in one day than they usually get in a year (or ten years) their executives still had to be as sure as they could that having Ah Gil as the face of their brand would work in their favor. I hope they are right and that she is able to begin working and once again make her fans happy.

Five or so of the sexiest Hong Kong actresses

In a recent post to his blog Asian-Cinema-While on the Road, which updates his invaluable "View From Brooklyn Bridge" Brian listed his five sexiest Hong Kong actresses since 1980. They are:
1. Chingmy Yau
2. Hsu Chi (Shu Qi herein)
3. Pinky Cheung
4. Christy Chung
5. Ellen Chan

I certainly can't argue with that list. In case anyone needs a quick refresher, here are a few pictures of each of them:

Christy Chung

Ellen Chan

Pinky Cheung

Shu Qi

Chingmy Yau

Sexiness is as subjective a category as exists anywhere and it would be possible to put together a list of five most sexy actresses without including any on Brian's list, although Shu Qi (an alternate spelling for Hsu Chi and one that is used as the primary one on the Hong Kong Movie Data Base which is the guide I follow here for romanization) might make anyone's list. I will cheat a bit and add two actresses that I find extremely sexy, Karen Mok and Carrie Ng. And, of course, Teresa Mak.

Carrie Ng was told by a make-up artist that no amount of make-up in the world would make her attractive enough for television. This is on a par with the famous report on Sophia Loren's first screen test which read, "Too tall, too big-boned, too heavy all around. The face is too short, the mouth is too wide, the nose too long..." Thank goodness that one of the the key elements of sexiness is self-confidence so that neither Carrie Ng nor Sophia Loren listened to these experts.

Karen Mok has had a much higher profile career than Carrie Ng. In addition to her film work she is a very successful singer whose live shows sell out quickly. But since she doesn't exude the risque sensuality of Carrie Ng or Pinky Cheung--who might look provocative wearing a burqa--she often doesn't make lists like this. For me she is a real knockout, more suggestive than steamy. She seems seductive without really trying to be.

Two movies that showcase several of the sexy seven: "Naked Killer", a must see for any fan of Hong Kong movies. It features Chingmy Yau who is costumed, made up, lit and shot to take full advantage of her already very striking good looks and Carrie Ng at her smoldering best. The characters they play are in rival gangs of lesbian killers for hire. Written and produced by the ubiquitous Wong Jing it is a delightfully trashy movie full of grotesque humor and beautiful women. It is every bit as strange and wonderful as it sounds.

The other is "So Close" where Shu Qi and Karen Mok begin on different sides of the law--Shu Qi is half of a pair of sisters who use high tech and low cunning to assassinate corrupt CEOs who are protected in seemingly impregnable skyscraper fortresses while Karen Mok is the tough cop in charge of stopping them but who gets framed for a murder charge and decides to join forces with the vigilante sisters. Things are sparked further by the strong but not quite carried through Sapphic attraction between Karen Mok's character and the other lovely sister, winning played by Vicki Zhao Wei, who is probably on a number of top five sexiest Hong Kong actresses herself.

Carrie Ng

Karen Mok

Cecilia Cheung

Cecilia Cheung was one of the young women caught in the debacle last year when pornographic photos of Cecilia, Ah Gil and a few others, taken by Edison Chen and stored on his laptop, were found by a repair tech in Hong Kong and posted on the web last year. Within a few hours they were everywhere and the actresses have had a very tough year, especially Ah Gil, who as Gillian Chung of the Twins, had a squeaky clean, girl next door image. Cecilia Cheung has suffered from the fallout as well, with her career on hold although her family and her in-laws have been very supportive of her. Cecilia gave an interview recently--the best short discussion of the entire tawdry affair is by Valerie Soe in her blog beyondasiaphilia.

Cecilia Cheung had a charmed film career until theses photos were released. In her first movie, "Fly me to Polaris", she had a role that almost any actress would love to do and Cecilia squeezed every drop of pathos from it. Some of the most jaundiced reviewers at the Hong Kong Movie Database confessed to shedding a tear while watching the unabashed weeper.

"One Nite in Mongkok" was a real departure--she plays a young mainland woman who comes to Hong Kong for three weeks every couple of months to work as a prostitute in order to keep her family out of poverty. She plays who Dan Dan is a hooker without a heart of gold. She tries to keep an upbeat attitude and has a realistic, if not enthusiastic, view of her profession. She hates what she does but is from a very poor village and is one of fourteen in her family. Making $8,000 in three weeks at $130 a trick—her cut after the pimp and room are paid for—she obviously pays very dearly for her family loyalty. One of the few upbeat moments in the film comes at the very end when the audience realizes that Dan Dan really won’t be returning to Hong Kong—or if so, at not as a Mongkok prostitute. We see her in a confrontation with her pimp Walter, played by a memorably thuggish Chan Mong-Wa. She is finished for the day, has done her quota of tricks, knows how much she needs to make and how much she has made and just wants to leave. Neither she nor the audience is surprised when Walter starts slapping her around—this is just part of the cost of doing business and and part of the degredation she has to suffer in order to help her family--it is heartbreaking. Dan Dan is a very luridly written role and Cecilia and comes across very well as a person who is being pulled in several directions at the same time.

Two pictures from "One Nite in Monkok":



Incandescent as the Princess in "The Promise" Cecilia's beauty, which could be a distraction in grittier roles, served her very well here. Even though the Princess was a spirit, a human being and, possibly, a hallucination her portrayal was perfect, switching from one aspect to another and running the scales from imperious to heartbroken, to both desperate and hopeful this last when she was locked up in an iron birdcage prison. "The Promise" had a big budget with an international all star cast directed by Chen Kaige and was the entered in the Oscar sweepstakes by the People's Republic. Cecilia was exceptional even as part of this formidable group.

Pictures from "The Promise":