Question 1
Hong Kong films present unique characters who want to pursue love, adventure, wealth and vast exploration of different paces. The films portray characters who are majorly are youth. They are eager for compassionate love and fast accumulation of wealth. They dream of visiting different places all over the world. Their dream for wealth, love and adventure leads them to different places. The films portray the dramas of fantasy, love, and journey and self- discovery by different characters. They seem to harbor a big dream concerning the needs. They are passionate and attached themselves to “Hong Kong dream” “New York dream” and “Californian dream”. As time passes, these characters attempt to create new identities. They have a dream of adventuring new places, entering into romantic relationships and even forgetting the past and where, they have come from. In fact most of them commit suicide because of the love breaks. Thus most of the Hong Kong films portray such themes by using different characters in the films. The characters portray the society’s reality. The films portray human beings love nature and the nature dictates the love that individuals have in the society. The team of money and love are portrayed as intertwined. It is argued that in most cases, when one is bestowed with a lot of wealth. The characters are skeptical in nature. They thus want to accumulate wealth and love.
Rogue film uses different characters that depict these varied themes. The passionate love is the main theme in the film. The family of the 12th Master that dominated the business of the arena is used to portray how different people envy for love. The family of the 12th Master began a passionate love affair sometime in the past. Their love was secret but when they were found out they committed suicide together. It is depicted that on March 8th at 11 pm, the couple agreed to jointly commit suicide. They swallowed opium together promising each other that they will meet again afterlife. They had a dream of moving on with their love in the virtual land. However, after Fleur waits for Chen in hell for many years without success, she decides to return to the land of the living. Only this time she returns as a spirit. She tries to find her lover all over Hong Kong. Her efforts could not give results. She no longer recognizes him and after some time she comes up with a new strategy. She decides to use a newspaper to look for Chen through an advertisement. The advertisement is significant in that she lets everyone know that there existed love between her and Chen. The character portrays the behavior of total committed by the lovers. However, Chen through Fleur is a person of who shows dishonest in the love affairs. The scenes and the plot of the film are captivating to the audience. The audience can easily now the direction of the film.
The advertisement bears a code 3811 which indicates the eight day of March at eleven pm when they committed suicide together. She also enlists name of Yuen,(Alex Man) who is said to be their assistance. The name of Chor (Emily Chu) the suspicious girl friend of their family also appears. All these, she does to remember the past love with her husband. The nostalgia of their intimate past love comes into her mind. In the end Fleur finds her lover and gets to know that she did not die during the suicide. She therefore, gets the reason why she did not find him in hell even after waiting for 50 years. His survival from suicide reveals to her that he had been cheating on her. She concludes that Chen-Pang had not been honest. He might have cheated her to take opium while he himself takes water. Fleur ends up dying in the name of love. Fleur did not recognize Chen as he had become an old poor man. When they parted 50 years ago, Chen had wealth but all over a sudden was swept away. At 70 years of age, Chen lives as a Chinese opera, which lived mostly on the cramped quarters with those who are regarded as effortless. At the end after seeing her, Chen asks for forgiveness but the request for forgiveness fall on a death ear. Fleur could not agree to forgive Fleur. She remembers the trauma she went through searching her. She cannot however, believe that the one she loved most is not the one who cheated her to commit suicide. She however, returned the rouge case she gave her 50 years ago while they were still having intimate love. The characters depict love and wealth in the real world. At first when the family had enough wealth, they used to love each other intimately.
In the film of love in the mood for Love of 2000 the characters further continue portraying the theme of love. The characters have jobs their spouses also. Each of them sometimes is forced to leave their spouse in the house as they go for work. They start becoming suspicious of their left spouses at home. Tony Leung who is a journalist coincidently rents a house on the same apartment with Maggie Cheung a shipping company secretary. They then became neighbors. At overtime shifts these characters leave their spouses in the house alone. They think that their spouses might be cheating on them. This makes them to be suspicious on their spouses thinking that they might take advantage of the opportunity. As the two continue with their lives, they began to love each other. They at times rent a hotel and sleep together in the name of being in a night shift. Their love affair is slowly noticed by their neighbors. Though they are married separately, the power of money makes them cheat on their spouses. The setting and the plots of the play depict diverse behaviors in the society. The characters show how youth enjoy embrace love during their youthful stages. The film through the characters shows that cheating in relationship is a real issue in the society. The issues depicted in the film thus reflect the real picture of the society.
Her Fatal Ways is a crime-comedy film that was produced in the year 1990 in Hong Kong. It was written and directed by Alfred Cheung and other stars such as Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Carol Cheng and Sheila Chan. The film won Hong Kong’s 10th Film Award for the Best Actress.
The film takes place in Hong Kong, where it opens with Mainland Chinese police superintendent Cheng travels with her nephew Hsiao to Hong Kong in pursuit of Wong, a Chinese drug-dealer. Cheng arrests Wong and extradites him to Hong Kong police. She briefs Wu the Chief Inspector about Wong’s criminal offense whereby Wong admits it. Wong had a dream of getting rich with his business of smuggling drugs from the Golden Triangle and selling it in Hong Kong. Wong escapes from police custody in Hong Kong and Chen is asked to stay abroad to assist the Chief Inspector Wu look for Wong. There exist differences between Hong Kong’s culture and that of Mainland China, and the rivalry that existed between Wu’s father and China’s Communist Party made Cheng experience difficult times with her boss Wu.
Wong escaped from police custody because there was a pornographic film that was playing in a motel that Cheng was received. Hong Kong police officers lost their attention to the movie and Wong, having the tactics of martial arts, knocked them down and escapes. Cheng was disappointed with inefficiency of Hong Kong police force and refuses to get Wong back. She immediately received a phone call from General Secretary of China threatening to deport her to desolation if she fails to catch Wong. Cheng once again had to participate actively in tracing the accused but wishing that Hong Kong police would work under her command. Her proposal was rejected and the dispute between her and Wu heightens.
Wong gets contact with his brother and tried to escape from Hong Kong where he escapes injury of shootout while his brother is injured. Using her interpersonal skills, Cheng gets information that Wong fled to a beautiful village Sau Mau Ping where he found a lover, Sheila Chan. When Cheng returned home, she finds Hsiao, Wu and his fellow veterans so drunken and behaving in a weird way. She decides to challenge the veterans by beating them. Wu take her to see the night view of Hong Kong and as they come back on the elevator, the lights go off and it is terrifying. When the lights come on again, they find themselves holding hands and Cheng feet the first love.
There is information that Su, a drug buyer is meeting potential drug-dealers and Cheng volunteers to go and listen to their conversation. Wong is shot dead by Su due to bargain misunderstanding but Cheng survives. Cheng and Wu finally become friends and achieve reconciliation between the Nationalists and Communists. Cheng writes and sends a letter to Wu expressing her apology for her quick temper and thanking him for their stay during her tour in Hong Kong. She admits that it was her first time to hold a man’s hand. The situation is so nostalgic to her and she looks forward to opportunities for them to meet again. Her Fatal Ways film covers elements of travel, martial arts, dreams, self-discovery, and love and not forgetting the current issues in the society such as drug-trafficking.
Question 2
Looking back on the entire course, the film that I liked better is Comrades, Almost a Lover Story directed by Peter Chan, 1995. The film is about two Chinese man and woman, Li Xiao and Li Qiao who travel to Hong Kong with similar ambitions of making a living. The two falls in love despite both having different commitments in relationship. Xiao flies to USA with his wife to avoid an affair with Qiao. In United States, Xiao separates with his wife. Qiao marries a rich guy Pong back at Hong Kong, who is later chased by police and they have to flee to the United States too as illegal immigrants. Her husband is killed while he attempts a robbery. Xiao and Qiao coincidentally meet in the streets of New York as singles and become lovers once again. In this film, Comrades,Almost a Lover story it is clearly shown that despite different interests in life and barriers like distance, love pursues and catches the right persons. The film is emotional, sentimental and it attracts ones interest that they yearn to watch it again and again.
On the other hand, the film that I do not like is Enter the Dragon. The actor Bruce Lee emphasizes much on the Hong Kong culture, superstitions, fight against drug-trafficking and martial arts. The act like pretending to be jumping from a high roof to another is not realistic and throwing of magic darts is at times horrifying. Furthermore, one person, Bruce Lee fighting a crowd of people and winning without getting injured is an exaggeration that when one watches, they realize and may just watch it to kill time. In addition, the background music or sound in the film is mainly Chinese ones and not all audience I included, like such music. The film actors and directors instead, should use music of language that is widely understood globally.
