By 1982 Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia was at a crossroads
in her career with one foot in Taiwanese cinema and the other inching towards
Hong Kong. Since her debut in 1973 at the age of 19 she had appeared in over
60 films and had been a huge star from that very first one. She was considered
one of the Great Chinese Beauties and I would not argue with that. Eyes that
can be as soft as a love poem or as cold and fierce as revenge. She can be
entrancing with little more than shifting emotions on her face. But for this
first decade of her career she had primarily made films in Taiwan that were
either light comedies or tear inducing melodramas. There were a few exceptions
to this though. 800 Hundred Heroes in 1975 about the Chinese fighting the
Japanese, The Dream of the Red Chamber in 1977 was a period opera for Shaw
Brothers (the only film she made for them) and Love Massacre in 1981 which
is considered a classic in the Hong Kong New Wave. But the vast majority of
her films had English titles like The House of Love, Love Love Love, He Loved
Once Too Many, Run Love Run and The Love Affair of Rainbows. But these corny
films had made her a star throughout the Chinese communities around the world.
I have watched a number of these films and only for one reason. Brigitte.
But now she was approaching 30 and though still stunning, it was perhaps
time to change her image. You can't play love sick heroines forever. In this
same year, she appeared in two Taiwanese films that are nearly inexplicable
in her filmography. Was it just a matter of her wanting to do something entirely
different or were the triads somehow involved. I don't know but she made two
gnarly over the top insane really cheesy but wonderful female action films.
You have to see them to believe them - Pink Force Commando and Golden Queens
Commandos. I hope not too many of her fan base went in expecting broken hearts
and love songs. It was a very peculiar choice but perhaps a decision that
changed the trajectory of her career and made her an even bigger star. Maybe
the biggest star in Hong Kong and beyond for about ten years. In the following
year she dove right into the heart of Hong Kong films with the clever comedy
All the Wrong Spies and more importantly in the Tsui Hark fantasy classic
Zu: The Warriors from Magic Mountain where she plays the Ice Queen in glorious
fashion. That led to iconic roles in films like Peking Opera Blues, Police
Story, Swordsman II, Dragon Inn, The East is Red, The Bride with White Hair,
Chungking Express and her final film, the amazing Ashes of Time. She retired
at the top.
And thank goodness for her change of cinematic personality if Burn Phoenix
Burn is to go by. This is emotionally as flat as a pancake. If anything the
Taiwanese were great at making these complicated melodramas that had all the
middle aged women in the audience sniffling. Even me on occasion. But this
one can't seem to make up its mind whether to go for a light comedy or a
melodrama and ends up with neither. Just a story. The makings were there but
one of the few female directors at the time, Lily Liu, didn't go in for the
kill. She directed a few other Brigitte weepies so it is surprising.
The story begins with two little sisters playing on the swing and one pushes
her younger sister too hard and she falls off and loses her sight. Jump 15
years into the future. The blind sister Chao-mei (Shirley Lui) plays the piano,
is devoted to her sister and parents but fearful about life. The other sister
Yen-jan (Brigitte) feels enormous guilt for what happened and is devoted to
her. To such an extent that when she brings her boyfriend Ling Kang home (Liu
Wen-cheng) she doesn't seem to mind that he immediately falls for her 16-year
old sister (yes, he dumps Brigitte Lin for a 16-year old) . Jump ahead another
five years - Brigitte meets an annoying man Master An (Yun Chung-yueh) at
the library, he courts her and they fall in love (definitely not Brigitte
worthy). There are a few speed bumps but really nothing to stop this from
a happy ending. I kept waiting for the tragedy to come - the blind sister
runs out and gets run over or she gets hit on the head and gets her sight
back or she falls in love with her sister's new boyfriend or she sleeps with
the wrong guy. Something. Anything. But what we do get is Brigitte laughing,
gurgling, singing, dancing, crying, getting hysterical and simply looking
lovely. For some of us, that is enough.
