Until this one, I am not sure if I have watched Anita Mui in a film
since she passed away in 2003. And it made me tear up watching her all these
years later. She was one of Hong Kong's great performers and great personalities
whether on the screen or on the stage singing (I saw her in Atlantic City).
Some of the films she was in are among my favorites - Heroic Trio, Mr. Canton
and Lady Rose, A Better Tomorrow III, Saviour of the Soul, Magic Crane and
a ton of others - she did comedy, she did tragedy, she did it all and her
early death so soon after Leslie Cheung's was a blow to the whole city. It
felt like an era was passing and in fact it was. There was this wonderful
incestual relationship in Hong Kong between music and movies. So many successful
actors went on to singing careers and so many singers went on to film careers.
Anita and Leslie dominated both artistic fields. When Anita made this
film in 1985 she was much better known for her singing than her acting (she
only had four acting credits) and her small part indicates this.
The main actor is Russell Wong, who is best known I think for his action
roles both in Hong Kong and in Hollywood - but he was trained as a dancer
and he does a lot of that here. He also sings a lot but since he did not
speak Cantonese, one has to assume his dialogue and his singing is dubbed
(by who I don't know). This was his first film anywhere and it seems strange
that the filmmakers in Hong Kong would hire someone with no experience who
didn't speak the language - but dubbing was common place at the time - especially
as so few films were shot with synchronized sound. There was also the fact
that with two languages in Hong Kong - Cantonese and Mandarin - many actors
were dubbed into the other dialect. His brother Michael Wong who also didn't
speak Cantonese has had a huge career in Hong Kong with over a 100 films.
His first was also in 1985 and was in another Yu film, City Hero. Others
like Christy Cheung was a huge star for a while and could not speak Cantonese.
The Hong Kong film industry was always scouting beauty contests in the Chinese
communities for talent and looks.
Dennis Yu is the director and Cinema City is the producer. Yu with his first
few films - The Beast, See-Bar and The Imp - was considered one of the New
Wave directors but Cinema City was not an edgy production company and they
forced their directors to go commercial. They did so with Tsui Hark and they
do the same here. It is a surprisingly bland film though the songs are fine
and some of the comedy hits the spot. Russell plays Russell, a dance teacher
and performer who wants to break into singing. A manager who just lost his
big star, Jannie (Anita) to another agency sees potential in Russell and
sets out a path for him.
In the time it takes me to make a sandwich, he becomes successful but where
most films would then go on with his descent into drugs, bad decisions and
groupies - that is where this film ends. It is happy endings all around for
everyone. The manager played by James Wong was an institution in Hong Kong
as well - had comedy talk shows, was an actor in many films usually as a
short-tempered loud comic figure - so one is surprised to find out that he
was one of the major composers for Hong Kong films - involved in so many
classics - Peking Opera Blues, Shanghai Blues, A Chinese Ghost Story, Once
Upon a Time in China, Swordsman and lots more.
So as non-eventful as the film is it was still a pleasure for me - Anita
sings a couple songs, shows up from time to time in nice outfits, Russell
is quite charming and there is one scene that had me laughing out loud. He
is invited to meet the family of his girlfriend (Cher Yeung) and it turns
out to be the extended family of uncles and aunts at dinner wanting to know
everything about Russell - who is your father - a gangster which they take
as a joke but he is (Roy Chiao) - how much do you make - and then they all
start fighting among one another with the grandmother throwing chop sticks
at people and a father constantly whacking his son over the head and then
the wife whacking him. I guess you had to be there.
The film did ok at the box office - somewhere in the middle for the year
but Yu would only go on to make two more films though one of them, Evil Cat
is good fun. Wong would go back and forth between Hong Kong and Hollywood
for a few years - Satin Steel with Jade Leung being perhaps his best known
in Hong Kong - and then pretty much stick to Hollywood.
