The Bachelor's Swan Song
Director: Derek Yee
Year: 1989
Rating: 6.0
Hong Kong has its
share of horror films – many without any true scares – but I would pit this
1989 film against any of them. After watching this I have to conclude that
there is nothing more frightening than a Chinese wedding! It would be easier
to face a horde of yapping wolves or a revenge-seeking ghost than a prospective
mother-in-law wanting the best for her daughter. This film traces in small
detailed steps all the occurrences in the lives of a young couple from his
proposal to the conclusion of the wedding and though done in a semi-dramatic/semi-comedic
fashion much of it sent cold shivers of sympathy down my unmarried spine.
The young couple that set down this thorny path towards marriage is Kenny
Bee and Maggie Cheung. They have been going out together for a number of years
and have been trying to save up a little nest egg to enter into married life
with – but events are put on fast forward when Maggie announces that “Auntie
has not come for a long while” (Cantonese slang for a woman’s period). With
a face as long as an Oliver Stone film, Kenny proposes and Maggie happily
accepts. From this point on just about everything that can go wrong does.
Kenny discovers that the nest egg that he left with his friend, Lawrence Cheng,
to invest has gone south faster than a Boeing 747 and he has to borrow money
from the friendly neighborhood moneylender, Shing Fui On. When your moneylender
opens a cabinet for an application and a pile of cutting instruments fall
out, you may want to re-think that loan.
Of course, these weapons are not nearly as sharp as the barbs thrown by
the mother-in-laws at one another. They haggle over every detail like Kissinger
and Le Duc Tho at the Vietnamese Peace Talks. Everything is a negotiation
– the food, the number of tables, who the young couple will live with, the
wedding gown – and soon the couple is ready for nervous breakdowns. I found
much of this quite amusing and interesting as well – the way in which both
families bring along their extended Aunties to the initial negotiation in
order to show strength, the custom of the groom having to bribe his way into
the bride’s home on the wedding day, the ceremonial offering of tea as a show
of respect to the parents. Every little step brings added cost of course –
and then Shing Fui On is on Kenny’s doorstep the night before the wedding
and demanding to be repaid immediately.
Though almost too subdued at times and a bit slow moving, this little film
feels it way through these wedding minefields with a nice eye and a sense
of humor. Once it gets to the wedding it enters into high frantic gear and
finishes in very satisfactory style. The performances from all involved are
very good. Kenny attains a believable balance of a man looking as if he is
being led to the executioners, but at the same time clearly very much in love
with Maggie. Maggie is lovely of course and gives a very restrained but moving
performance. She has a small crying scene that is perfect and real. Good
support is given by Lydia Shum and Woo Fung as Maggie’s parents, Lau Kau
as Kenny’s father and Meg Lam as Maggie’s friend. Showing up in cameos are
Eric Tsang, Alfred Cheung, Wu Ma, Tai Bo (as the thief) and Pauline Wong and
Jaime Luk as the unhappy married couple. In the same year Maggie and Kenny
were again to team up in the superior romantic tale A Fishy Story.
