Whispers and Moans - 性工作者十日談

Whispers and Moans (性工作者十日談) is a 2007 film out of Hong Kong. It stars Athena Chu and Candice Yu.

The movie follows the lives a a few sex workers from Hong Kong night clubs. The ladies all have it rough. They're looking for love in the wrong places. As the title in Chinese suggest, it follows these gals for 10 days. Who knew so much could happen in ten days.

It was a pretty interesting look into a industry that seems unique to Hong Kong. Athena Chu puts on a great performance. Candice Yu adds a mature feel to the movie.

A recommended watch for the actresses, story, and fresh look at the industry.

The Avenging Fist - 拳神

The Avenging Fist (拳神) is a 2001 film out of Hong Kong. It stars a lot of people. But the main star is Wong Lee Hom. Apparently, the movie was to be based of Tekken, but the license was lost right before production. The movie was directed by Andrew Lau of all people.

Wong plays a young up and coming fighter. Wong's father was also a legendary fighter before his death. Now Wong wants to become the best fighter there is. However, there's a dark and secret force that threaten the world as they know it. The police investigate and love interest are introduce to Wong.

This movie was a blast to the past in terms of storyline and it goes something like this. "I like to fight, my dad liked to fight, so let's fight man!" The CGI was grossly overused, but was needed for the "world" created to house this madness.

Do you need to watch this? Yes. Will it suck? Prolly a little. But it is a no nonsense HK action movie at its core.

The Matrimony - 心中有鬼

The Matrimony (心中有鬼) is a 2007 film out of China. It stars Leon Lai, Rene Liu, and Fan Bing Bing.

The movie is about the marriage of Leon Lai and Rene Liu. They live in a large house with a mysterious attic. Rene is now a homemaker while Leon goes to work. Strange things start to happen as Rene explores the attic.

The movie was very very slow and the ending was a little forced. Leon doesn't have much in terms of expressions and Rene is so timid.

The movie dragged on and on and on. I would have fast forwarded more if I were in front of the TV. If you read enough of my blog, you'll know what I was doing.

Besieged City - 圍城

Besieged City (圍城) is a 2008 film out of Hong Kong.

The movie is about a group of teenage kids that are in trouble from both the mob and police. The movie follows a group of homeless kids that survive on the streets of Hong Kong. These kids eventually get in with the street triads. Trouble follows after this. The back story of 4 of the kids are explored. The brother of one of the homeless kids is dragged into the mess when the trouble begins.

The movie was both eye opening and disturbing at the same time. The movie presented kids that buck the trend and would rather go homeless than goto school. The parents of kids are not presented in a good light. In one case, incest is a major topic.

This actually reminded me a lot of a movie called "Kids" from 1995. The kids are wild with no adult supervision and they suffer the consciences of immaturity and bad upbringing.

This is not a happy movie. It is a dive into the darkness of lives that will end in tragedy.

Journey of the Doomed - 水兒武士

Journey of the Doom (水兒武士) is a 1985 Shaw Bros movie. And one of the last ones. The movie stars Stephen Tung and Max Mok.

The movie is about Lin who rescues a young maiden. But this maiden has royal blood and people are out to get her. Lin protects her as best he can.

The movie was pretty hard to watch. The fighting was pretty lame. Being as this was 1985, the action wasn't even up to par with the TVB series of that era.

The bright spot was Candice Yu. Candice is one of my favorite actresses from the late 70s and early 80s early. Even Candice wasn't enough to save this movie.

I picked this up while I was in Singapore a couple of years back. All the Shaw Bros. films are available throughout Asia.