A Little TLC(w): The Banquet (1991)

This is a bit of a curious entry.  It’s a collaboration between tons of people in the Hong Kong film industry, raising money for a relief charity to aid people affected by severe flooding of the Yangtze in 1991.  It was both written and shot incredibly quickly, and as a result, it feels fairly slapped together, but you get the sense that the main draw for audiences (besides giving to charity) was seeing so many Hong Kong celebrities together in one film.

Mr. Tsang, an anything-for-a-deal business man, is desperate to land a contract for “rebuilding Kuwait.”  Eager to get in good with Kuwait’s prince, Mr. Tsang learns how devoted the prince was to his late father and decides to demonstrate the same quality, planning a birthday party for his own father that will double as a celebration of remembrance for the prince’s.  Two problems:  1) he hasn’t seen his working-class father in over a decade, and 2) even if Mr. Tsang can convince him to come, Mr. Tsang thinks his father won’t fit in with all the high-society types he’s inviting to the party.

Much of it is what you’d expect from a farce.  There’s a needlessly-intricate plan, outrageous lies, some My Fair Lady-ing, and ludicrous Hail-Mary fixes to last-minute catastrophes.  It’s pretty broad and, as I said, has a definite rushed quality to it, but it’s okay.  There are places where it’s over-the-top in a good way – “My cancer is acting up again!!” is a great line – and there are fun bits of humor I enjoy, like a silly gag involving a dream sequence and Leslie Cheung.

As mentioned, this film is packed with Hong Kong celebrities.  The ones I recognize are all from Wong Kar-wai movies:  again, Leslie Cheung, Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Jacky Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, and Gong Li.  Fair warning that most of these are cameos.  However, Jacky Cheung (most notably As Tears Go By) has a good-sized role as one of Mr. Tsang’s yes-men, and Tony Leung Ka-fai (Ashes of Time) has some amusing moments as Mr. Tsang’s estranged brother-in-law.

Luckily, Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s role is also more than just a cameo.  His character, Wai, is another of Mr. Tsang’s yes-men.  Not so much a character in his own part as someone who facilitates aspects of the farce, there’s not a lot to Wai in particular, but he does get some laughs.  I like the recurring gag of Mr. Tsang telling Wai to hire “the best (insert job title here) in Hong Kong” for various party preparations, with Wai inevitably bringing in someone in his extended family as a ringer.  Leung and Jacky Cheung work well together as a comic duo, too – their seamless fawning over Mr. Tsang’s “genius” is funny.  And one thing I will say, Leung seems curiously good at doing broad comedy without really mugging, which is a nice skill to have.

It’s not a great film, but I feel like the actual reason it was made gives it a little leeway.  Rather than being a well-crafted work of cinematic art, or even a splashy blockbuster, it’s a big chunk of Hong Kong’s movie industry all working together to put something out for charity, sticking as many faces into it as they can and getting it together as quickly as possible; it’s the Chinese farce equivalent of “We are the World,” and that lets me appreciate it for what it’s trying to do more so than what it is.

Recommend?

In General – Not necessarily.  It’s amusing in places, and I liked playing “Find the Wong Kar-wai Actors,” but there’s nothing too amazing here.  Interesting, I suppose, in that I don’t think I’ve ever seen an entire feature-length film made expressly for charity before.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Again, not necessarily.  Fun but trifling.

Warnings

Swearing, some gross-out humor, drinking/smoking, and slapstick violence.