Demi-Haunted
Director: Patrick Leung
Year:
2002
Rating: 5.0
This feels like a shaggy ghost story that doesn't
know when to stop. It is a mess of a film that badly needed a ruthless editor.
It nearly hits the two-hour mark and keeps bringing in pointless sub-plots
till the very end for some reason. Director Patrick Leung had done much better
work with Beyond Hypothermia, Task Force and La Brassiere, but he loses control
of the flow of this film as if he doesn't want to stop filming. It takes
place in the world of Chinese Opera performers - the floating life - and
I enjoyed that aspect of it. The costumes, the sexual gender confusion, the
bright colors, the backstage rivalries and snippets of the performances are
great. It has been used to good advantage in other Hong Kong films like Peking
Opera Blues, Hu-Du-Men and Stage Door Johnny.
Leung right out of the box decides to test
the patience of his audience with thirty-minutes of head spinning confusion
as the protagonist keeps going back and forth between the real world and
the ghost world without knowing why. One second he is sitting down, gets
hit on the head, ends up in a basket and opens it and finds himself in the
middle of the city. And then he is possessed and beats up five tough guys
to protect a girl on the street using Chinese opera moves.
Finally, the film settles down and starts
to make sense or as much sense as a ghost story can. Buster (Eason Chan)
is the acrobat in a small opera troupe run by Jean (Christine Ng) and her
teenage daughter Miko (Kate Yeung). The star of the troupe is Hung (Anthony
Wong) who is having an affair with the married Jean. It is a Raggedy-Anne
troupe trying to keep Chinese Opera alive in modern times and going broke
with smaller and smaller audiences showing up. Suddenly those fore-mentioned
items begin happening to Buster and he assumes a ghost is involved - he even
gets urine from a male virgin to ward it off and his friends help him. The
fact that there is a ghost doesn't surprise or unnerve anyone.
The ghost finally makes an appearance. It
is Giselle (Joey Yung, who was to appear again with Eason in the terrific
Crazy n the City a few years after this). So why is she bothering Buster.
Simple. He is her reincarnation and she needs his help. What could be more
natural. She died sixty years ago and her reincarnations since then have
been useless but Buster is perfect. She too was a Chinese Opera performer
- who cross-dresses much of time in a suit and tie - who was in love with
a fellow played by Nicholas Tse. And died during a performance heartbroken.
She needs Buster to finish the performance with her possessing him to go
on to the next stage in life. Or in death. Think Ghost Whisperer. In return
she will help him woo that girl Chloe that he saved (Yumiko Cheng - who as
a child had a part in Centre Stage and Dragon Inn!).
A heart is beating in this film but it goes
all over the place like it has ADS - at one point Giselle possesses him and
starts making love to an old man that she thinks is her old love. A very
strange scene. As is the time Chloe has to gamble to make money and then
vomits all over Buster. Why was that in this film? I think the only time
I laughed is when Buster tells Chloe he wants to spend the night with her
to which she slaps him and says she doesn't do one-nighters? How about three-hours?
Slap. 90-minutes? Slap.
