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Review
by Kozo: |
Back
in Christmas 2002, Sandra Ng scored at the box-office—and
with critics—with Golden Chicken, a well-produced
comedy-drama from producer Peter Chan and director Samson
Chiu. Ng played Kum, a happy prostitute (or "chicken"
in Cantonese slang) whose career mirrored and complemented
the successes and setbacks of recent Hong Kong history.
Golden Chicken tackled the recent difficulties of
the territory, and wished for hope and promise in Hong Kong's
future. But that was at the end of 2002, and since 2003
brought about one of Hong Kong's most difficult trials yet—Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)—Golden Chicken's
happy messages would seem to have been plucked. Not to worry,
but the same filmmakers returned in Christmas 2003 with
Golden Chicken 2, a film that tackles SARS along
with whatever hell and happiness 2003 had to offer. The
initiative of the filmmakers is to be commended; if 2004
stinks, maybe there'll be a Golden Chicken 3.
Golden Chicken 2 picks up
in the year 2046. No, you did not read that incorrectly.
Now advanced in age, Kum still looks remarkably good thanks
to the quantum leaps in plastic surgery technology. With
the anniversary of Hong Kong's 50th year under Mainland
rule hanging over the territory's head, Kum takes the time
to reflect and impart her generous wisdom upon a young fellow
(Chapman To, appearing in his 12th film of 2003, and as
a completely different character than the one he played
in GC1) who's despondent over heartbreak. He wants
to swallow some memory-forgetting pills to ease his personal
pains, but Kum tells him that bad memories are necessary,
if only to make to make the good times better.
To illustrate her point, Kum
recalls Hong Kong's worst year: 2003, which is appropriate
since the film could never hope to predict the woes of 2004,
2005 or any other year in the far-flung future. Kum receives
a New Year fortune saying that she will be married that
year, and to facilitate the fortune she tries to divest
herself from her sordid occupation. That doesn't happen
right away, but Kum does inherit a small diner from Chow
(Anthony Wong), a customer who perishes in the throes of
passion. Then SARS rears its ugly head. Business drops through
the floor, but in the meantime there are big name guest
stars to attend to. Aside from Anthony Wong, Ronald Cheng
shows up as a mentally-deranged john who attaches himself
a little too closely to Kum's life and her body hair. There's
also a hunky doctor (Leon Lai), who's battling SARS and
his own fatigue. Dicky Cheung appears as a wacky doctor
who makes inappropriate housecalls, and Angelica Lee brings
touching gravity in a small cameo. Meanwhile Kum puts a
tough, chipper face on everything and resolves to carry
on.
What does all this mean? Hard
to say. Like the first film, Golden Chicken 2 puts
Kum's cheerful, hard-working attitude to the test by throwing
her into tough times and tougher circumstances. SARS is
certainly among the toughest times, and a lot of good humor
and heartbreak is wrung from the situations that occur.
Some over-the-top raunch, witty observations on the day-to-day
reality of SARS, and some touching moments all occur during
the film's first hour. Some of the sequences are hard to
pin down; Ronald Cheng's situation, while amusing and even
ultimately poignant, is questionably fitting next to the
SARS satire and melodrama, and Kum really doesn't do much
more than witness and comment. Like the first film, the
fun is in the details and performances, and the ever-present
panorama of Hong Kong history. Those who were there for
2003's tragedies—or those that just paid attention—might
find some insight and appropriate pathos amidst the randy
humor.
However, the second half of
the film takes a dramatic turn. Instead of delving deeper
into 2003's woes (the July 1st demonstrations get only cursory
coverage, and the shocking death of Leslie Cheung goes unmentioned), Golden Chicken 2 goes directly into a decades-spanning
romance between Kum and her cousin Quincy (Jacky Cheung).
The two first met when Kum was still working in schoolgirl
cosplay clubs. Quincy came over from the Mainland to earn
a fortune, which is about all he tries to do. From minute
one, the guy is clearly a gold-digging capitalist who would
sell his family to earn a buck. He and Kum share an obvious
connection, and time and circumstances draw them apart and
then back together, but Quincy's obvious selfishness eventually
alienates Kum. It's only during the latter half of 2003,
when Quincy returns after a ten-year absence, that his purpose
is revealed: he wants to marry Kum. Why? Well, that would
probably be telling.
The second half of Golden
Chicken 2 is both the film's downfall and subtle triumph.
On a storytelling level, the shift from Hong Kong's woes
to Kum's soap opera story is a bothersome one. After the
first film and most of the second film spent time telling
history and her (i.e., Kum's) story, this concentration
on Kum's lovelife is remarkably bland and even hackneyed.
The Golden Chicken series seems to be about one woman's
life reflecting Hong Kong's ups and downs. Going into this
romance feels beneath the filmmakers, and indeed the film
slows down to crawl during these sequences. If it weren't
for the constant of Kum, as well as the intersplicing of
scenes from the first Golden Chicken, this would
almost seem like a different movie.
But some good does occur in GC2's second half: it gives Jacky Cheung and Sandra
Ng a chance to share the screen. Despite the relative familiarity
of their romance, the actors work remarkably well together,
and their banter yields some worthwhile, if not overt, emotional
payoffs. Maybe the writing doesn't seem particularly noteworthy,
but Ng and Cheung bring out the best in it. There are times
when actors and the lives they create do more than the script
justifies; this would seem to be one of those times. That,
and Golden Chicken 2's humorous 2046 wrap-up, redeems
whatever uneven or ill-fitting stuff occurs in the previous
100 minutes. At times the filmmakers try to be too smart,
or too coy (the big surprise at the end is no big surprise),
but there is an obvious wit and an admirable love for Hong
Kong and its people that shines through whatever mixed messages
occur. Like the first Golden Chicken, there is humor
and heart to spare in Golden Chicken 2, and though
the sum of the parts may not be all that, the parts themselves
feel more than worthwhile. (Kozo 2004) |
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