The Occupant
This was actually one of the very first HK films
that I ever saw in a theater a number of years back on a trip to London
and I have always had fond if vague memories of it. At the time I don’t
really think I knew who Chow Yun Fat and Sally Yeh were – and certainly
didn’t realize that they had been paired off in one of the greatest films
ever made – The Killer. Their chemistry even back then was quite apparent
and Sally has said that her favorite actor to work with was Chow Yun-Fat.
This film made back in 1984 before either one
of them had become famous, holds up quite well I thought. Having just watched
Sally in Shanghai Blues, produced in the same year, makes me realize again
how under appreciated she is as an actress. In Shanghai Blues she is all
screwball wide-eyed hysteria, while here she is calm, sophisticated and
in control. Chow just looks so fabulous in this film – lean and playful
– and the charisma that may not have been evident to the audience back
then just leaps out at you now.
This film directed by Ronnie Yu (Bride with White
Hair) is an amiable ghost story for the most part. It’s really more of
an eerie mood piece than a scary horror film. Yu creates some lovely interior
sets (art direction by Tony Au) and uses the camera very well to capture
the atmosphere. The film does have a slight schizophrenic feel to it though
as it mixes the dramatic acting of Chow and Yeh with the goofy and at times
annoying presence of Raymond Wong. Sometimes this contrast plays to good
effect, at other times you just wish Wong would vanish and leave the film
to Chow and Sally.
Sally comes to Canada to work on her Masters –
a paper on Chinese superstition. She finds a very inexpensive apartment
through realtor Raymond Wong. The apartment is large and beautiful and
Wong tells her that there must be ghosts here for the apartment to be so
cheap – and offers to take his pants off and run around the apartment to
ward off evil spirits! Wong spends much of the film trying to either get
out of his pants or into Sally's.
It turns out of course that there is a ghost
of a dead singer who killed her married lover and then shot herself. She
throws Raymond out the window – after bedding him in a midair sexual escapade
– and this brings policeman, Chow Yun Fat, to Sally’s door. He too is immediately
smitten with Sally and tries to get to the bottom of this supernatural
mystery. He goes to his sifu – Lo Lieh – to see what he can do to exorcise
the ghost.
Both Chow and Wong want Sally to leave the apartment,
but – hey – apartments in HK don’t come cheap and besides she did come
to HK to study superstition. After a while though Sally begins acting very
strangely.
The film is quickly paced – amusing at times –
has one lovely smoldering eye contact scene between Sally and Chow and
is overall an enjoyable tale to watch. Just don’t expect a lot of scary
jolts.
My rating for this film: 7.5
DVD Information:
Universe Laser and Video Co.
Excellent clear film transfer for the most
part – some of the interior scenes seemed a bit murky, but nothing too
bothersome.
Letterbox
Trailer
Previews of The Greatest Lover, Diary of a
Big Man, The Fun, The Luck and the Tycoon
Written information on Chow Yun-Fat, Sally
Yeh and Ronnie Yu
8 Chapters
Removable subs
Easy to read subs
Very pleased with overall quality of DVD.