The Mistress
Reviewed by YTSL
The allure of money. A promised life
of leisure and luxury. The power of love. A fascination with
sex. The accompanying tendency -- not just capacity -- to erotically
fantasize. What and where they lead to. What men like.
What women want. What a person has versus what (others think and
(s)he figures) (s)he deserves. The different perspectives that come
from being outside looking into vis-a-vis being fully immersed -- to the
extent of effectively, albeit still metaphorically, drowning -- inside
of a relationship or situation. These topics and themes have been
the subjects of myriad cinematic productions as well as many casual and
intense discussions among friends and others.
Still, THE MISTRESS manages to find ways to creatively
explore and imaginatively depict these and still other points and ideas
(notably what are the attractions and frustrations of being a kept woman
of a rich -- and, in this particular instance (and coming in the form of
Ray Lui), good-looking, still in his physical prime and well-educated --
man in this day and age). Along the way, the winner of the "People's
Choice Award" at the most recent Deauville Film Festival ends up covering
new ground as well as painting pictures so suffused with daring or innovation,
or both, that I wager they will startle -- not just impress -- even the
most jaded (Hong Kong) movie viewer (E.g., I don't know what would be more
shocking and seem incongruous in most other "Eastern Hollywood" offerings,
yet fit completely into this particular complex whole: Pastoral dream
sequences that look like they could have come out of "A Midsummer's Night
Dream" or five minutes of film footage showing some of the movie's main
characters actually attending -- but generally not comporting themselves
in as uninhibited a fashion there as they are subsequently seen to do elsewhere
-- an S&M party...).
And howzabout the following? An artistically
rendered scene in which men in dark suits and sunglasses coolly pick up
and eat slices of sashimi off a naked -- but covered with tattooed images
of such as octopi -- human female "plate"...which is presented as the visualization
of details outlined in a conversation among a group of five friends...during
which the women do such as enquire -- in a tone that is equal parts naive
and skeptical -- where the wasabi and soy sauce are placed and won't the
raw fish be unappetizingly warm, and the men ask their female friends whether
they honestly think that those diners really give a damn about the temperature
or taste of the food! Yet I would be only half kidding when I state
that there is so much more that is visually, aurally, intellectually and
emotionally mind-blowing in this -- yes, definitely -- Category III rated
but NOT pornographic work that if I were to seriously attempt to describe
even one quarter of them, this review of THE MISTRESS would turn into a
research paper length piece.
Perhaps the most astounding realization for me
is that all the incredible images and ideas actually are being utilized
to very coherently and movingly tell a story that its auteur, Crystal Kwok,
obviously cares as well as surely has some real knowledge about.
More specifically, this (re)viewer gets the strong sense that THE MISTRESS
of this film is someone who could quite easily be taken to be her alter-ego
(industry newcomer Jacqueline Peng thoroughly convinces as a very bright,
overseas educated university graduate with feminist views and a sexual
appetite, who initially does not seem at all lacking in self-esteem and
-confidence). This makes it all the more disturbing, and painful,
to see this bright spark try to play a game which men play well, only to
end up faring worse than a Mainland Chinese woman (Vickie Chen's character
has way more depth and believability than Gong Li's similar situated individual
in "Mary from Beijing") who she had initially looked down upon and tried
to counsel to do more with her life.
Such a summary of the film's plot and premise
cannot adequately give a sense of how astounding the work is. Hence
my (also) trying to convey a sense of the wit, intelligence and honesty
as well as the kind of (wide-ranging) aesthetic vision to be found in THE
MISTRESS by way of writing a bit about the creative force behind this "must
see to even believe exists" film. And for the record: Yes, I was
already shocked as to the incredibly sophistication of this work before
I found out that it is the maiden effort as a director, producer, executive
producer and -- with Susan Chan -- co-scriptwriter of a single individual
who is not even 35 years old.
My astonishment got compounded upon learning that
Crystal Kwok is a beauty queen turned prominent socialite whose previous
cinematic dabblings have only been as a supporting actress -- and undoubted
pretty face -- in such movies of an altogether different ilk as "Dragons
Forever", "Police Story II", and the reputedly godawful "The Master".
And almost one week after being told of this, it still is difficult for
my small mind to process that this same soul has also hosted a feminist
radio talkshow and is the author of a Master's thesis on "Ghosts and Goddesses:
Women, Cinema, and the Image" along with popular publications with titles
like "Babes and Bitches" and "Boys and Bastards" (My thanks to Hong Kong
residents Sebastian Tse and Tim Youngs for providing me with these choice
pieces of information).
Although this review is already long, I figured
I ought to throw in some words from Kwok herself (The following comes from
<http://www.astyle.com/Articles/crystalkwokpreview.asp>.
N.B. I really can't find too much else on the Internet on either this amazing(ly
unheralded) film or its remarkable auteur). So...On the local media's
reaction to her making THE MISTRESS: "They...think why would a female
director explore a sexual topic...it is almost unladylike." And what
of the audience response to this female-centric work where women and men
are definitely portrayed as (flawed) sexual beings? "[I]nterestingly
enough, the men who see the film are more fascinated by it, because they
never see the female psychology. They never see [women] thinking
about their sexual issues...And you know damn well that there is [a] difference
when a man is directing a love scene as opposed to a women"!
My rating for this film: 9.5.
