Site Features
- Asian Film Awards
- Site Recommendations

- Reader Poll Results

- The Sponsor Page
- The FAQ Page
 
support this site by shopping at
Click to visit YesAsia.com
Asian Blu-ray discs at YesAsia.com
 
 
 
 
 
The Love & Sex
of the Eastern Hollywood
Chinese: 愛在娛樂圈的日子
Year: 1998
Director: Aman Cheung Man
Producer: Wong Jing
Cast: Athena Chu Yun, Kathy Chow Hoi-Mei, Pauline Suen Kai-Kwan, Monica Chan Fat-Yung, Angie Cheung Wai-Yi, Sunny Chan Kam-Hung, Emotion Cheung Kam-Ching, Karen Yeung Ka-Ling, James Wong Ka-Lok, John Chan, Liu Fei-Lim, Michael Lam Wai-Leung, Raymond Tso Wing-Lim
The Skinny: Wong Jing does character assassination with this esoteric satire on actual HK celebrities.
 
Review
by Kozo:

This cheapo comedy goes right for the jugular as it parodies the lives of actual HK media celebrities. The lives of six famous HK women are examined in a loose, totally inconsequential plot that only makes sense if you know the actual scandals from which the story is lifted. Sadly, chances are that some of you don’t. 

Athena Chu is a parody of Sandra Ng, who finds her sexuality questioned and her relationship with Alex To Tak-Wai (played by Michael Lam) laid out on film. She’s lusted after by Queenie (Monica Chan), a lesbian radio show host who’s based on someone that I know nothing about. Athena is friends with movie queen Mei-Kei (Kathy Chow), who’s a stand-in for movie queen Maggie Cheung. She’s locked into a failing relationship with a self-loathing director/actor that’s meant to be Derek Yee Tung-Sing (who’s played here by Sunny Chan Kam-Hung).

Mei-Kei’s pal Hing (Angie Cheung) has problems, too. She has a poor figure and a crappy acting career. To alleviate this, she gets implants and becomes an overnight sensation. Of course she’s meant to be Veronica Yip Yuk-Hing. And then there’s Mrs. Kenny Bee, played by Pauline Suen, who’s just as sickening and shallow in this movie as she was rumored to be in real life. Rounding out the sextet of women is suddenly-everywhere Category 3 starlet Karen Yeung, who plays an actress who whores herself out to a prince in a foreign country, gets gang-raped, and comes back to HK a rich and powerful woman. Quite frankly, I have no idea who she was supposed to be, but whoever she is I feel sorry for her.

As you can probably tell, the plot seems pointless and sketchy without actual knowledge of HK pop culture, so this is not recommended to anyone who’s a casual HK Cinema fan. That said, I can’t even recommend this to anyone who’s a diehard HK fan. This really isn’t a good movie. It’s occasionally provocative (the love scene between Monica Chan and Athena Chu has “Gasp! They’re kissing!” written all over it), but it’s only interesting if you want to play character assassination. Chances are none of this means squat to you, so see something else. (Kozo 1998)

 
Availability: DVD (Hong Kong)
Region 0 NTSC
Mei Ah Laser
Widescreen
Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks
English and Chinese Subtitles
image courtesy of Mei Ah Laserdisc Co., Ltd.
   
 
 
LoveHKFilm.com Copyright ©2002-2017 Ross Chen