Cat and Mouse
Director:
Gordon Chan
Year: 2003
Rating:
5.0
Back in 2003 the best thing about Hong Kong films
was Cecilia Cheung. With her entrance into the film industry in Stephen Chow's
King of Comedy in 1999, she quickly became the It Girl. Fresh-faced, a distinctive
gruff voice, a face that was more anime than real, a vivacious energy that
was contagious and with little experience she seemed to have great acting
instincts and an ability to play to the camera. She had been spotted by Chow
in a commercial and bam, she was the biggest thing in Hong Kong. And she
wasn't an overnight fling - she followed King of Comedy with the tearjerker
Fly Me to Polaris, the downbeat Failan and one high profile film after another.
Running on Karma, One Nite in Mongkok, Lost in Time all are highly recommended.
This one not so much. It has everything
going for it with a topnotch cast, a highly regarded director, excellent
production values and a plot that should have sufficed but it lands with
a real thud. It feels like you are having to attend the funeral of an aunt
that you barely knew. Which is a bad thing for a comedy. Perhaps a lot was
lost in translation but everything feels off. Comic timing seems to always
be a few seconds behind, the actors don't feel like they have their hearts
in it - Andy Lau and Anthony Wong look bored much of the time - the attempted
jokes are not funny and the modern references feel stale. The strange thing
is that when the film is not trying to be amusing but playing it straight,
it is much better. There was a good film buried under the bad comedy, but
every time it raises its head, the comedy knocks it back in line. Cecilia
is the best thing about it and every time she shows up, the energy level
rises.
It is a period film centered around the
legendary Judge Pao (Anthony Wong) and his righthand man Zhan or Imperial
Cat (Andy Lau). They haven't had a case brought to them in months so Zhan
goes off anonymously to enjoy a holiday. In an inn he sees Bai or Shining
Mouse, the head of a group of thieves with an entourage of three beautiful
maidens. Bai is Cecilia disguised as a man with a moustache and Van Dyke
beard looking like a Spanish nobleman of the 16th century. But a very cute
one. Bai and her goofy merry band are more pranksters than villains. Zhan
than overhears a court official planning to kill him and Judge Pao. He assists
Bai in a theft of this official's money and tells her to take it to flood
victims. And then rushes back to Pao to tell him his life is in danger. They
go to the Emperor (Cheung Tat-ming) but he says he can do nothing.
The film wanders about for the next hour
with Zhan becoming engaged to the daughter (Li Bing-bing) of another high
official and Bai deciding to join the Emperor's Guard to be close to Zhan.
She shows up sans moustache and beard and it falls flat - Zhan just goes,
oh you are a woman - it very much needed a He's a Woman, She's a Man kind
of moment but it didn't even try. There is a plot afoot to overthrow the
Emperor and if the film had focused on that, added a few more action scenes
and jettisoned the comedy - Judge Pao trying to unlock a door - how about
we say Open Sesame - this could have been a fine romantic heroic wuxia. Directed
by Gordon Chan.
