(Viva Erotica)
From the opening shot of Leslie Cheung's bare backside to the closing shot of an entire film crew working in the nude, Viva Erotica throws a startling new light on the workings of the Hong Kong film industry. Cheung plays Ah Sing, the director of two art-movie flops, who comes under pressure from his producer to make a low-budget porno film for the sleaziest film company in town. There are two problems. One: Ah Sing has scruples, principles and standards to uphold. Two: the financier wants his squeeze Ms Mango to star in the movie, and she's tired of stripping for the cameras.
Actor-director Derek Yee (best known for C'est la vie, mon chéri) teams up with co-conspirator Lo Chi-Leung to celebrate Hong Kong's imminent reversion to Chinese sovereignty with the territory's most grown-up sex comedy ever. The directors have come up with a script which spans the entire spectrum of film-making, from a 16mm indie feature by an idealistic kid to a truly grotesque exploiter called Chinese Torture Chamber Story. Yee himself contributes a cameo as a gay director who kills himself when his latest movie dies a death at its midnight-previews.
Viva Erotica has enough in-jokes and parodies to keep Hong Kong movie buffs satisfied for days, but it's actually less concerned with the realities of the Chinese film business than with the wry pragmatism that has made Hong Kong the phenomenon it is. The film is a satire with heart, anchored in sincere and touching performances from Leslie-Cheung and Karen Mok as the central couple and Shu Qi and Tsui Kam-Kwong as the porno stars. Tony Rayns
Regie (Dir): Derek Yee
Buch (Scr): Derek Yee, Lo Chi Leung
Darsteller (Cast): Leslie Cheung, Shu Qi, Karen Mok, Tsui Kam-Kwong
Länge (Running Time): 97 Minuten
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