The Magic Touch
In the 1970's Michael Hui was the premier comic
filmmaker in HK and the popularity of his films were greatly responsible
in reviving Cantonese as the language of choice for HK film (Mandarin had
increasingly become the dominantly used language during the 60's). By the
80's his films were still popular, but to some degree they had become less
important. By the 90's and with the advent of the mo-lei-tau style of comedy
best exemplified by Stephen Chow, Hui's films seemed almost irrelevant
and his production decreased dramatically. Therefore it was a pleasant
surprise at how amusing this 1992 film is. It certainly breaks no new ground
- but it is so amiable and personable that it was a complete pleasure to
watch.
Hui's comedy (he directs this film as well)
is so much less frantic and more laid back than most HK comedy that it
almost takes getting used to. Much of his comedy lies in the moments when
absolutely nothing is happening on the screen besides the camera filming
Hui's reactions (or lack of them) to what is going on around him. This
film has a few classical bits when this is the case – where his thought
processes are beautifully and humorously being reflected by his expressions
– but never overdone - often just the smallest change such as a raised
eyebrow or the patented Hui deadpan stare says so much.
Here, Hui plays a charlatan fortune-teller who
tells people their futures by feeling their bones. What the suckers don't
know is that he is in cahoots with the building's security guard (played
by his brother Ricky Hui) who gets personnel information from people as
they enter the building and faxes it up to Michael. One day Hui tells a
female client that her husband is having an affair with an Anita (a magazine
picture of Anita Mui happens to be on a table), but it turns out that the
woman is the wife of the head of the HK Internal Revenue Service (Philip
Chan) and so he sics the I.R.S. on Hui in the form of Leon Lai.
Leon Lai is actually reasonably good in this film
- as he plays the straight man to Hui and they make a relaxed and charming
team. While trying to rescue a girl from being raped, Hui gets smashed
over the head (and in a very funny routine he cleverly covers his
face in various ways so that they won't recognize him) and all of a sudden
he really does have the power to see the future. Leon who is a fairly low-level
employee sees this as his opportunity to rise through the ranks by using
Hui's ability to catch a crook (Sunny Fang Kang) that they are after.
There are a number of very amusing pieces from
an AIDS test in which Hui tortures Leon by slowly revealing the results,
to some gay humor in a sauna to a hostess bar scene in which none of the
bad guys can hear each other over the noise. Very few of Hui's attempts
at humor fall flat and I found myself amused from beginning to end.
My rating for this film: 7.0
DVD Information:
Distributed by Ocean Shores
The transfer is quite bad - watchable
certainly - but it is not letterboxed and the image is very bland.
Subtitles: There are burnt on Chinese
and English subs and they are often cropped or fall below the screen making
them occasionally difficult to read.
There is no menu - but the audio option allows
either Mandarin or Cantonese