Truth or Dare: 6th Floor
Rear Flat
Reviewed by YTSL
Over the past few years, Hong Kong cinema has
seen its share of new female stars emerge on screen. Sammi Cheng,
Miriam Yeung, Cecilia Cheung, Vicki Zhao Wei and the Twins are now household
names in those parts of the world where the Jade Theatre continues to attract
a considerable share of viewers, while Angelica Lee and Karena Lam have
garnered HKFA plus Golden Horse awards which many people had assumed would
go to older plus longer established actresses. Although this film
industry’s most recent generation of female directors have yet to collectively
plus individually make as big a splash, they too are -- at the very least
-- being given their chance to show what they can do.
For the most part, the likes of Crystal Kwok (whose
sole directorial output to date has been “The Mistress”), Mak Yan Yan (with
“Gege”), Carol Lai (with “Glass Tears”) and GC Goo Bi (who helmed that
which to have been commonly concluded to be the most laudable portion of
“Heroes in Love”) have brought forth works which are “art-house” and/or
“independent” in style and/or nature. Even Aubrey Lam’s “Twelve Nights”
(for all of its having been produced by U.F.O. doyen, Peter Chan), appeared
to be this rather rarified way inclined. Alternatively, although
she may have thought to have headed in the same direction with “Women’s
Private Parts” (a Category III rated documentary that played at the 2001
New York Independent Film and Video Festival), Barbara Wong Chun Chun looks
to have demonstrated with TRUTH OR DARE: 6TH FLOOR REAR FLAT -- a youth-oriented
work whose box office take may not have passed HK$10 million (as of mid
July 2003) but which has continued to play in HKSAR theatres for more than
a month after it was first released -- that she can attract as well as
intrigue her share of “regular” movie viewers.
The basic premise and story of TRUTH OR DARE:
6TH FLOOR REAR FLAT is simple enough: An assorted group of six friends
rent and move into a 6th floor flat (i.e., “apartment”, in American English)
that turns out to have an extra room at the back. In their shared
space, these twenty-something year old personalities -- i.e., aspiring
writer Karena (who’s portrayed by Karena Lam), Tarot card reader Candy
Lo (played by the same named singer-actress), the musically inclined Wing
(Lawrence Chou in a role that -- unlike with the part of the psychologist
in “The Eye” -- well suits him), the entrepreneurial Jean (played by Patrick
Tang), openly gay Bo (who’s empathetically essayed by Sammy Leung) and
the generally introverted Leo (Roy Chow deserves credit for ensuring that
this often entertainingly outré plus risqué production’s
quietest character did not turn out to be its least interesting) -- often
play “Truth or Dare”: a game whose players have to (be prepared to) truthfully
answer questions directed at them or enact that which they have been dared
to do.
One fateful evening, these generally brazen individuals
get dared by a pissed off visiting participant -- who was seeking to “get
back” at his hosts for their putting him in a position he considered unbecoming
and unfair -- to agree to literally eat shit if they do not achieve the
goals they wrote down on slips of paper (and deposited into emptied bottles
of alcohol) within a year. In a show of bravado worthy of their being
veteran players of their favorite game, the movie’s main sextet decide
to accept that sizeable challenge and those outlandish terms. In
the process, they ambitiously as well as communally commit themselves towards
trying to make their distinct plus particular dreams -- which range from
professional oriented ones like getting a book published or amassing a
considerable amount of money to more personal ones like finding Mr. Right
and going off to Paris with him or causing a former love to be sorry --
come true inside of the stipulated time period.
Do (any of) the protagonists of TRUTH OR DARE:
6TH FLOOR REAR FLAT manage to achieve their goals? At the risk of
my sounding like a fortune cookie writer, here’s contending that Barbara
Wong Chun Chun successfully shows that the journeys taken and efforts made
while seeking to carry out this sometimes amusing -- even while simultaneously
serious -- challenge are more important than whatever turn out to be the
end results of the game. And if this were not impressive enough,
the film’s auteur -- who also appears on screen: firstly, as a pregnant
character named Amy; then, together with many others of this offering’s
crew members, as herself as the end credits roll, to provide their own
answers to a relevant query -- also manages to saliently plus sympathetically
incorporate the personal viewpoints and tales of at least a couple of older
female figures (notably those portrayed by a maternal Theresa Carpio and
the grandmotherly -- but, nonetheless, observably young at heart -- Hau
Woon-ling) into the already complex equation.
To my mind, one sure measure of the quality of
an ensemble work is that its main characters appear distinct. IMHO,
TRUTH OR DARE: 6TH FLOOR REAR FLAT passes this test -- and more, actually,
since more than one of its supporting characters (including a pair of policemen
friends of the flat-mates -- turned suitors of Candy Lo -- played by William
So and Edwin Siu) as well as its six principal personalities are easily
distinguishable from one another. Another mark of excellence can
be seen in the makers of this cleverly conceived plus scripted -- and largely
light hearted, yet also genuinely moving on occasion -- offering having
made it easy enough to understand where quite a few of the characters are
coming from and/or have the points of view that they do even when some
of these are in direct opposition with others. Indeed, so much is
this the case that a scene that starts off in a confrontational manner
can be counted among the work’s best along with a couple of others that
are more harmonious vibe emitting from start to finish.
My rating for this film: 9.