Aka - Cobra Girl
Here is a bit of an odd-ball film from the Shaw Brothers and directed by
Sun Chung (Human Lanterns, Big Bad Sis). It has elements of a Taiwanese romance
(even with the requisite sappy song and video) mixed with horror, myth, eroticism
and bad intentions. It is hard to know what to make of it but it is sort
of fabulous on some off-beat level. It stars Hsiao Yao who in certain shots
reminded me of Brigitte Lin in her Weepie Days, Chung Wah, Dana, Frankie
Wei Hung and a few veterans - Ching Miao, Yang Chi-Ching and Fan Mei-sheng.
So not an A studded cast by any means. And definitely not an A movie. The
film is set in contemporary times though it feels like it should have been
a period piece.
Ah Fen (Hsiao Yao) lives isolated in the country with her father (Yang Chi-Ching)
on their small farm where they raise ducks. She has a good friend though
to keep her company and she and Xixi spend their days together frolicking
through the fields and talking to one another. There is great affection between
the two. Of course, Xixi is a cobra. But it happily tags along with Ah Fen
wherever she goes. At night she puts Xixi into a basket and puts a top on
so that the cobra can sleep and early in the morning she lets her out and
off they go. Xixi understands everything Ah Fen says, which turns out to
be a good thing. Needless to say, every young girl should have a cobra as
a playmate and protector.
Into this happy paradise comes a man; a good man though. Shi-de (Chung Wah)
who has returned home after being away at school for years. His father (Ching
Miao) owns a huge farm along with his foster son Hu Lin (Wei Hung) and a
cousin Man Ling - the alluring Dana. The car breaks down on the road and
snakes are everywhere. If you hate snakes as much as I do, this may creep
you out. Shi-de spots Ah Fen and she helps him and they strike up a friendship.
But not all snakes crawl on the ground. Hu Lin and Man Ling scheme to get
Shi-de to marry Man Ling and then kill him. They do much of this scheming
between sex where they are kind enough to leave the windows uncovered. As
uncovered as Man Ling is. Dana was not a shy woman. And she has nothing to
be shy about.
When instead Shi-de falls for Ah Fen the duo have to resort to other means
- attempted murder, beatings and a frigging mongoose - but our good friend
Xixi keeps a close eye on them - following them everywhere - even on their
wedding night. But Shi-de hates snakes. One killed his mother. Can a man,
a woman and a snake find happiness together? Sure it is crazy but it is just
stupid enough to be fun and the ending is just wonderfully off the charts.
"Bite him, bite him, bite him". The choreographer is Yuen Cheung-yan. Choreographing
the fight between Xixi and the mongoose had to be tough. This has to be one
of the best snake performances I have seen.
