Aka - Deadly Darling

Here is one of the more renown Black movies in the Taiwanese collection of genre films from the late 1970s to the early 80s. It is your basic female rape revenge film that tries to carefully tread the dividing line between social realism with a purpose and exploitation. It is under the best of circumstances a difficult balance. Even more so perhaps from a female director. In this case Yang Chia-yun who had directed a few comedies and the Brigitte Lin romance, Morning Mist, before this. But she had her marching orders and that was to have a rape and then revenge. And do it from script to finished product in 30 days. But she goes carefully, setting up the revenge section at about the one hour mark and showing restraint in the two rape scenes. More of the focus is on the man or men chasing the woman generating a fair amount of tension. Uncomfortable to watch but the director cuts away from any graphic sordid displays.


The lead actress is Lu Hsiao-fen and this made her a star in Taiwan. A female icon to some degree though in the documentary Taiwanese Black Movies, she did not want to be interviewed and indicated that part of her career was a long time ago. This was either her debut or second film, the other one being On the Society File of Shanghai, another top rated Black movie. I see that one of her last films was Song of the Exile directed by Ann Hui and co-starring Maggie Cheung - quite a ways from Lady Avenger.


A famous model Kai-lin (Tsui Siu-ling) leaves a model shoot on the outskirts of the city (faked as being Hong Kong) and hitches a ride. The man Mr. Li (Wa Lun) inside is from a wealthy family and brutally rapes her after a long chase. She refuses to let it go and takes him to trial where she is accused of trying to get money from him, of enticing him, of being an easy girl because she is a model. He is pronounced not guilty and she goes crazy. Wan-ching (Hsiao-fen) is a reporter covering the case and is sure that Kai-lin is telling the truth and wants to pursue it but her editor says no and her boyfriend tells her to drop it. The girl was sexy. What did she expect.


When Wan-ching is later raped by four men and Mr Li who had been following her, her boy friend isn't much more sympathetic. What will my friends think. Having seen that Kai-lin got no justice, she decides to take it into her own hands. And the killings begin. One at a time. After she has sent them a bloody pig's head. Though this is the part we have been waiting for it falls apart a little bit and gets sloppy - the killings get more unbelievable, why does she insist on walking down dark empty streets and why do the cops suspect her and then disappear for the rest of the film. Still it has moments of satisfaction but in reality it is a condemnation of how society treats rape victims and how men are protected by the courts and public opinion - but not from an angry woman willing to to do what has to be done.