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)