Morning Fog
Reviewed by YTSL
No doubt about it: Part of me realizes that
this hardly great -- and greatly melodramatic -- 1978 Taiwanese weepie is
one that only fans of Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia would hunt down and happily
view. On the other hand, my unrepentant Brigittephile side can’t help
but believe that the young Brigitte who appears in dated offerings like these
would charm and be winsome to quite a few folk; including those -- and I
know they do exist! -- who cannot for the life of them understand why certain
other people are so enamored by this goddess of an actress after watching
some of the lesser outings she made in the twilight of her two decade long
career (e.g., “Black Panther Warriors”, “The Bride with White Hair 2”, “Deadful
Melody”, and “Three Swordsmen”), when it seemed like film makers reckoned
that the bulk of their products’ audience would be satisfied to just see
a couple of baleful glares and some sleeve swishing from the woman who portrayed
-- and has a fixed place in the minds of many as -- Asia the Invincible (what
a name as well as character!).
My reason for thinking what I do is that MORNING FOG is the kind of work
in which Brigitte -- playing a potentially tragic figure of a nonetheless
spirited lass, whose father was never married to her mother (a frowned and
looked down upon arrangement in 1970s Taiwan), and who had to stop studying
and start working upon the death of her mother, to pay off the accumulated
medical, funeral and burial bills as well as make a living -- is called on
to display a whole range of emotions as well as anchor the movie. And
believe you me when I state that a myriad amount of expressions do play over
her always lovely face over the course of this film (as her character undergoes
some romantic and other psychological trials). Smiles, pouts, glares
(one hurled at the not particularly strong character played by Chin Han definitely
gave portends of what was to come after her move to Hong Kong!), hurt and
sad looks that will tear at your heart, indignant and stubborn expressions
that may be inadvertently chuckle-inducing, thoroughly adorable and cute
ones galore -- they are all there for Brigittephiles to enjoy, sigh and luxuriate
over.
I know, I know...I’m gushing like crazy. But as the invalid boy who
Brigitte’s character -- whose name is Tu Hsiao Meng -- gets a job as a nursemaid
to (after being fired from her waitressing job for taking too much time to
carry out the good deed of returning a customer’s wallet to him) tells her:
“You’re such a likeable girl!” Then there’s Chin Han’s equally clearly
enamored character’s pointing out to the woman who is the heart and soul
of MORNING FOG that: “You’re aren’t a vengeful person. You’re
kind to everybody”.
Of course these opinions are not shared by the villain of the piece, who
not coincidentally wants Chin Han’s character -- who considers her father
to be his mentor and is willing to do such as get engaged to whoever the
older man wants him to -- for herself. The degree to which the not
very nice as well as highly ambitious Shih Mei Ni looks down at the poorer
working girl can be seen in her having no qualms about referring to our heroine
as “this bit of nothing” in front of the shocked trio of Tang Ying Ping (the
invalid boy who turns out to also be an extremely wealthy guy), Tai Ya Luen
(Chin Han’s character) and Tu Hsiao Meng.
These “old”, Brigitte-centric Taiwanese films being
what they are (i.e., moralistic melodramas with plots that are simultaneously
predictable and less than believable), there really is little doubt though
as to whether the fates will be kind to the good girl and main star of the
movie. In all honesty, my sense is that then, as now, this would not have
overly concerned the bulk of this film’s audience. Instead, what was
sought was -- and is -- an opportunity to ooh and aah over Brigitte’s every
move plus sigh at her wondrous beauty -- a sight that truly is heartclutching
in MORNING FOG.
My rating for the film: 6 (N.B. Minus two
points if you’re not a Brigittephile)