Unexpected Challenges
Director: Man On-hung
Year: 1998
Rating: 3.0
I have had the VCD of this film hanging around
for longer than the life expectancy of most animals. It was covered in dust
and cobwebs like a reclusive grandmother. I should add that the cover
on my VCD is very different than this one - just a picture of a wholesome
smiling Shu Qi - leading me to believe it was some indifferent early film
of hers. It was released into theaters in 1998 for about two weeks according
to the HKMDB where I am sure the late night dregs appreciated it as they
tipped the bottle. I expect the date on Letterbox of 1995 is closer to the
truth which makes more sense and would put it as her first feature film.
By 1998 she had become Hong Kong's sweetheart and this falls between glossy
romances such as City of Glass and When I look Upon the Stars.
Somebody saw an opportunity to exploit her
name. She had done a few nude video pictorials pre-Hong Hong as well. She
had come over from Taiwan in 1996 determined to become a star and the quickest
way to do that was to appear in Cat III films and show a little skin. Ok,
a fait amount of skin. But within a few months she managed to turn it around,
shed the Cat III image and acted in cute films like Love Amoeba Style and
Love is Not a Game, but a Joke. Sweet lightly comedic films in which she
radiated. There was a whole group of young fresh-faced actors coming on the
scene and she fit in fine. And is the only one of them that went on to enduring
stardom.
So, this came as a surprise when I watched
it. Clearly made in Taiwan before coming to Hong Kong. It is a dreadful film
- a banal plot, dialogue that would choke a horse and a budget that might
pay for a Boy Scout Jamboree. And four sex scenes with nudity. The star of
the film is actually Ko Chun-hsiung who had been around in Taiwanese films
since the early 1960s with occasional forays for Golden Harvest - Bedevilled
and Queen's Ransom - and then became a mainstay as a bad guy in a lot of
triad films - Mr. Canton and Lady Rose, Burning Ambition. By 1995 he was
in dross like this - the ending for him but the beginning for Shu Qi. He
is and plays a middled-aged businessman and gets to have sex scenes with
three different women in four scenes - Shu Qi was the lucky winner with two
scenes. I wonder if he financed the film.
He plays an ex-golf professional who at
one time was called the Prince of Golf and now owns a golf course. But a
female rival (Lilly Lee Lee-lee) has him on the ropes and may take over everything.
But he uses his charms to win her over and on her back. All looks fine till
his son brings home his girlfriend Zsa Zsa who is an ambitious reporter.
Soon she and Ko are playing footsie under the family dinner table. With the
son at the table. That usually doesn't end well. Really quite awful except
for Shu Qi who shows great potential - at being naked.
