Friday, October 23, 2020

A Little TLC(w): A Chinese Ghost Story III (1991)

Okay, I really enjoyed this movie. It’s probably in line some of the other stuff in Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s filmography, where I fully recognize and admit that the quality is a little questionable, but I had a great time anyway.

A Buddhist monk and his disciple encounter a variety of spirits while taking shelter in the haunted Orchid Temple. The monk uses his knowledge of secret arts to fight the ghosts, but the disciple, Fong, is increasingly taken with Lotus, one of the ghosts. Although she tries to seduce him in order to entrap him as a victim for her mistress, the Tree Devil, Lotus starts to genuinely like Fong, and the two wonder if there’s a way to stop the Tree Devil and keep everyone else safe by working together.

As you can see from the title, this is the third in a series and I haven’t seen the first two. I know that Joey Wang, who plays Lotus, stars in the earlier films as well, which also star Leslie Cheung (as the central human, I presume?) This film begins with a very short clip of Leslie Cheung’s character and someone else fighting ghosts, including the Tree Devil, and then jumps ahead 100 years, so I assume any connection between this movie and its predecessors is loose at best (side note: Cheung isn’t credited on IMDb, so it might just be a clip from the first or second movie.) All of which is to say I don’t know how it compares to what came before it.

For me, though, coming to it on its own, I liked it. There’s the kind of grungy, ludicrous effects that I’ve come to associate with martial arts/wuxia films of this caliber – the Tree Devil has this ridiculously enormous tongue that she attacks people with, and in the first scene, the tongue splits open to reveal what looks like a crocodile mouth, which is in turn filled with like 10 more tongues! It’s so absurd, you can’t not respect the ballsiness of it. The film offers an amusing mix of action, spookiness, broad humor, and romance, keeping everything cranked up to 11 for the brunt of the proceedings.

Thee best part, for me, is the connection between Lotus and Fong. From their farcical introduction to one another, in which she pretends to be a helpless woman running from a ghost and then proceeds to throw herself at him in increasingly-outrageous ways, they spark together delightfully. As a novice monk, Fong has sworn off women, so he’s terrified to have this beautiful woman getting up in his business in various states of undress, to the point where it’s almost a relief for him to discover that she’s actually a ghost trying to seduce him for untoward purposes. Meanwhile, although Lotus does the Tree Devil’s bidding (or at least goes through the motions of it, depending on the situation,) she isn’t inherently evil; she’s trapped. Her soul is bound to the place where her ashes are held, and as long as she’s stuck there, there’s only so much she can do to oppose the powerful Tree Devil. If Fong and Lotus are going to work together, it means Fong rejecting what he’s been taught to believe and Lotus going against the only “family” she’s had (albeit an abusive one) since she died.

Joey Wang does a nice job as Lotus, a ghost whose heart isn’t quite in it. In life, she was hurt and exploited, and so in death, she’s wary to trust, but she still can’t get behind the Tree Devil’s indiscriminate killing of humans. The movie also features an appearance from Jacky Cheung (who I’ve seen in quite a few Hong Kong films now, but who I remember best from As Tears Go By and Bullet in the Head) as an enterprising swordsman for hire, wielding his abacus as well as his sword.

Leung’s performance as Fong is really fun. He sells me on this novice monk who’s genuinely devoted to what he believes but also not the best at the actual follow-through. He spends a lot of the time scared, confused, or panicked, but that doesn’t stop him from continually trying to do what’s best. Even though his master is prepared to fight any and all ghosts he encounters, Fong can’t quite help feeling compassion for Lotus, trying to protect her from his master even as he’s still nervous about having anything to do with her.

I like that a lot, a bumbling little hero with a lot of principles that he’s not always sure how to uphold. A male lead who squirms away when a beautiful ghost-woman throws herself at him, frantically trying to put more clothes on her and being laughably transparently when they inevitably have to pretend to kiss as a ruse at some point (I know Fong is a monk rather than an asexual, but that’s my jam right there.) His good heart outpaces his abilities/knowhow at times, but that doesn’t stop him trying.

Recommend?

In General – I would, as long as you understand it’s a little low-rent and more fun than outright good. Entertaining, with nice central performances.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Sure! Fong is a very sweet character, and Leung is equal parts funny and endearing in this role.

Warnings

Lots of violence, sexual content/suggestiveness, drinking, and thematic elements.

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