The Lady In Black - Too Much Is Never Enough

Mar

5

The Lady In Black - Too Much Is Never Enough

≡ Category: Drama, Hong Kong, Movie Reviews By Country, Recommended |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Drama
Director: Sun Chung
Year: 1987

Rating:

TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE

To get the most out of The Lady In Black, it really helps to have some understanding of Chinese culture.

In general, Chinese women are incredibly devoted and loyal to their husbands. On the other hand, Chinese men tend to take their women for granted. There is a reason for this. In traditional Chinese culture, boys are considered much more valuable than girls. You can see this demonstrated in birthday parties for kids in Chinese films. If it’s for a boy, the celebrations are ridiculously elaborate, even more so than for Westerners. In other words, boys are horribly spoiled by their parents, while no one makes a fuss about the girls. Is it any wonder that the women end up taking care of the men, while the men treat their wives like doormats?

Fortunately, this is changing. These days, girls are considered by many Chinese parents and grandparents to be just as valuable as boys. But back in the 80s, the time in which The Lady In Black takes place, this definitely wasn’t as much the case.

May (Brigitte Lin) works in a textile factory. She embezzles a small fortune from the company to bail out her husband, Chan (Tony Leung). She must return the money within ten days, or there will be hell to pay. What does the husband need the money for? He wants it to gamble.

That’s another thing you have to understand about Chinese culture. As a culture, the Chinese have a huge problem with gambling.

Anyway, you know that this can’t end well. How long will May continue to be patient with Chan? If her patience runs out, what then?

The script by Law Gam-Fai, Siu Wai-Hung, and Edward Leung is actually quite funny in a gallows humor kind of way. Director Sun Chung favors bold compositions and colors, and a crisp, efficient narrative style. The Lady In Black is a pleasure to watch. Unlike many pictures out of Hong Kong from the Golden Age (1985-1995), the film stock of The Lady In Black hasn’t been allowed to deterioriate. The transfer on the picture reminded me of how beautiful some of those pictures were, and how visually different they were from Western cinema of the time.

Brigitte Lin is terrific as the dutiful, long-suffering wife. Tony Leung is infuriating (in a good way) as Chan, the spoiled little brat masquerading as a man. By turns Chan is bullying, self-pitying, abusive, and an all-around loser. Sek Kin radiates self-righteous indignation as May’s father — it’s terrific fun to watch him give Chan a verbal spanking. Lam Chung is also wonderful as Mr. Lam, who looks down on Chan when he’s an entry-level employee at the construction company they both work for, but kisses his ass when Chan becomes the manager.

The music score is cheesy, but in a way that adds to the fun. Just go with it. When the Cantopop ballad starts, accompanying a montage of May’s travails, The Lady In Black goes over the edge, from melodrama to delirious kitsch.

The only thing that keeps The Lady In Black from being a trash classic is that, after all the buildup, the ending isn’t bloodthirsty enough. We want to see Chan eviscerated, pureed, impaled, and roasted into an Asian smore, but director Sun Chung, after indulging in operatic pyrotechnics over the course of 90 minutes, decides for some unaccountable reason to exercise restraint in the climax. I think his point is that the battle of the sexes is ultimately a stalemate with massive collateral damage.

Still, I’m glad that I saw The Lady In Black. Too bad about that ending.