Mother of a Different Kind
Reviewed by YTSL
For many Hong Kong movie fans, the man at the
helm of this suspenseful offering is best known as ex-Shaw Brothers star
David Chiang. At some point in his career and life, however, the
just as -- if not more -- famous half brother of Derek Yee and Paul Chun
Pui apparently (also) went by the moniker of John Keung. In any case,
that’s how he is credited in Paul Fonoroff’s review of this unsettling
crime drama that I’ve also seen being categorized as a horror work (See
the often curmudgeonly critic’s “At the Hong Kong Movies: 600 Reviews from
1988 Till the Handover”, 1998:459).
Similarly, whereas some Hong Kong filmophiles
-- notably those from my parents’ generation -- are apt to identify this
1995 effort’s leading actress as former child star Bobo Fung (AKA Fung
Bobo), the now middle aged woman who has the titular role in MOTHER OF
A DIFFERENT KIND may well be more readily recognized by younger viewers
as the Petrina Fung who looks to have gone on to become the choice of more
than one director to portrayal the key female parental figure in their
movies. For the record, one of the pair of HKFA Best Supporting Actress
awards that she -- who also has the distinction of being a god-daughter
of former screen-goddess, Linda Lin Dai -- won in the 1990s came by way
of the part she played as Anita Yuen’s character’s mother in the acclaimed
Derek Yee helmed weepie, “C’est la Vie, Mon Cheri”.
Other melodramatic offerings from the past decade
and a half that have had Petrina Fung Bobo playing a caring mother include
“Women’s Prison”, “Call Girl 1988” and “Girls Without Tomorrow” (the last
of which I actually reckon to contain the best performance by her that
I’ve seen thus far). Should anyone start thinking otherwise however,
here’s pointing out that this enduring entertainment industry personality
also has, in this same latter period of her career, portrayed women who
have not been primarily defined by way of their having children (e.g.,
in “Hong Kong Gigolo”). Moreover, as she -- who also had a previous
incarnation as a Shaw Brothers martial arts movie star (cf. the recently
re-released by Celestial “Temple of the Red Lotus”) -- proceeded to demonstrate
in MOTHER OF A DIFFERENT KIND as well as had previously shown to be the
case with “92 Legendary La Rose Noire” (more than incidentally, the effort
which had got this enduring performer her first HKFA Best Supporting Actress
prize), another type of character that she has proven to be adept at portraying
is one whose mental faculties aren’t all there.
Minutes into MOTHER OF A DIFFERENT KIND, it should
be fairly apparent that “certifiable loon” -- as opposed to loving parent
-- would be the most apt of descriptive phrases to apply to Petrina Fung’s
Nurse Lam Sau Mei character. Granted that, by itself, her use of
a scalpel to cut up fruit might be downplayed as one forgivable eccentricity
on the part of a long time medical worker. Were it to be viewed in
isolation too, some kind of excuse also might be found for this single
parent’s not hesitating to rain blows on her near adult son when she felt
that he had done something stupid or otherwise wrong. Alternatively,
the course of action that the individual who dominates this John Chan scripted
film’s proceedings decides to pursue after her only child was killed by
a police officer -- who could justifiably argue that he fired his pistol
at her beloved Man “Chai” in self-defense as well as the line of duty --
can’t do anything but place the distraught woman squarely into the category
of “vengeful psychopath”.
Put fairly succinctly: It’s not just that Nurse
Lam gets all hell bent on exacting revenge on the unfortunate man but that
she sought to do this by snuffing out the lives of all those who are near
and dear to him (including his aged grandmother -- who is precisely the
sort of individual that you wouldn’t want to see dying of anything other
than natural causes! -- as well as new wife). Despite Superintendent
Cheung Hung at least initially looking like he ought to be able to protect
others as well as himself from this MOTHER OF A DIFFERENT KIND (and this
not least because the plain-clothes policeman happens to come in the form
of Lau Ching Wan), this soon gets generally proven to be far from the case.
And ditto with regards to two subordinate officers named Mabel and Shun
(played by Annabelle Lau and Michael Tong respectively) who had appeared
to be honorary family members as well as good friends of his.
Although she seemed to threaten for a while there
to be another female who it would prove to be a curse rather than blessing
for Superintendent Cheung to become acquainted with, Veronica Yip’s Jo
Jo turned out to be a friend in deed as well as in need. In fact,
as can be seen by her not deserting him even after he declared his intention
to “be crazier” than Nurse Lam (in a drastic bid to outwit that deranged
character), she -- who had looked for a time like she had been placed in
MOTHER OF A DIFFERENT KIND to provide comic relief and add some exploitation
elements to the Lam Ah Do lensed movie -- turned out to be more loyal to,
plus trusting of, him than those of his law enforcing colleagues like Joe
Cheung’s Officer Tam.
My rating for this film: 6.5