Sai Kung Story
Reviewed by YTSL
In recent years, new technological changes
have taken place in the world of Hong Kong cinema. Of these, the
most popular may well be synch sound filming increasingly becoming the
norm. On the other end of the spectrum, the most reviled looks to
be the resorting by many low budget film-makers to shooting their works
on digital video. Despite my personal experience of them generally
not being all that bad as well as actually quite varied, I (too) have to
admit to her tending to shy away from most shot-on-video productions.
This is not least because the comments of many others have got me strongly
suspecting that: worthwhile works like “Women’s Private Parts” and “Gege”
are few and far between; and substandard efforts like “Hooker’s World”
-- or uneven ones like that for which the presence of Ruby Wong in its
cast was what made me feel compelled to check it out -- are more likely
to be the rule instead.
The largely filmed outdoors SAI KUNG STORY
is one of those movies -- like the more experimental “Heroes in Love” --
that contains three distinct, non-intersecting narrative threads.
The first of these has Yoyo Mung playing Wing, a fish-bait seller in the
sea-side village of Po Tai O in Sai Kung District, and Lawrence Ng as a
clothes designer named Ching Lok who originally hailed from that section
of Hong Kong but now spends most of his time in the U.S.A. The second
story has Patrick Tang in its main role of a slacker postman who introduced
himself to Theresa Lee’s sad-eyed Gee character as Man (but then gets referred
to more often in the English subtitles as Michael Hui). Thus, it’s
only in the third tale that Ruby Wong makes an appearance -- as a widow
named June: who continues to dearly love her husband, Moon (essayed by
Emotion Cheung), some three years after his having prematurely passed away;
and whose strong commitment to his memory and family gets put to the test
when Moon’s best buddy (Ming is portrayed by Wong Hei) attempts to woo
her away from them.
That which was screened in just one local theatre
– but, in the process, has the honor of being the first Hong Kong movie
of 2003 – did not get off to a particularly good start. Indeed, I’d
go so far as to say that the first SAI KUNG STORY was the least compelling.
At the risk of upsetting fans of “Running Out of Time”’s beloved ‘gal on
the bus’, I’ll suggest that this has a lot to do with Yoyo Mung’s having
given a performance that looked to have involved more posing than actual
acting. To be sure, she was not helped by her Wing character having
been a rather shallow feeling plus mercurial minded aspiring model (who
is given to playing tricks on men who seem to not want much more than her
company, and developing a major grudge against the person who accidentally
splashed her with muddy water when he drove past in his sports car).
Nonetheless, the fact remains that, despite his having less screen time
than her, Lawrence Ng got me caring more for his character’s attempt to
stroll down Memory Lane in search of a flour doll store than for Wing’s
seeking to realize her ambitions to not “get stuck in this place for the
rest of my life” and “live an ordinary life”.
The second SAI KUNG STORY looks to take place
in a more built-up section of the New Territories district which includes
the Clearwater Bay area made famous by the Shaw Brothers, and begins with
Patrick Tang’s character waking up from a nap and finding that a bird has
defecated on his face. Soon after, this young fellow gets told off
by his superior and gets informed by a colleague that other postmen’s work
load has increased as a result of the mail that he frequently delivers
to the wrong addresses needing to be returned, resent, forwarded and such
like. Still, it’s only after he gets to know a woman (Theresa Lee’s
Gee character) who anxiously awaits each epistle from France that her boyfriend
sends her, and makes the acquaintance of another (Hidy Chan is played by
Nicole Tam) who is expecting a letter that “can turn around the future”,
that he comes to realize that letters “carry so much emotion”. And,
yes, somewhere along the way, the reformed personality does also fall in
love himself...but I honestly think that’s a less interesting component
of this particular tale.
Like with the first SAI KUNG STORY, the third
one has a Johnnie To discovery as its female lead. IMHO, Ruby Wong’s
luminous presence adds as much to this offering as Yoyo Mung’s threatened
to take away from it. As in “Where a Good Man Goes”, this too often
under-appreciated actress portrays a widow. For all of her June character
having spent the most recent three years of her life without a husband
(yet still toiling on behalf of her in-laws), however, this is an individual
who looked to have a sunnier outlook than many of the others which Wong
Siu Chea has essayed. Somewhat ironically though, the return into
June’s life of a mutual friend of hers and her deceased husband’s ends
up threatening what happiness she had managed to have. As luck also
would have it, it was the way that this tear-jerking section of this B&S
production -- more so than the two others -- got resolved that ensured
that I would feel much less satisfied post viewing the movie as a whole
than I had thought I would be as late as some seven (or maybe even five)
minutes from its end.
My rating for this film: 5.5