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致命誘惑 (1999)
Temptation


Reviewed by: ryan
Date: 11/21/1999
Summary: Temptation (1999)

Director LEE Chiu has done several Winners productions in the 80's, which all happened to be Category III films. With 'Temptation,' LEE tries his hand at a non-Category III film. 'Temptation' stars Roy CHEUNG Yiu-yeung, among others.

'Temptation' is a story about a couple named Ka-wai and Ka-fai. Ka-fai's father suddenly passes away and Ka-fai must take over his dad's business, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. He recruits several new employees, including Helen as his secretary. Ka-fai also invites his friend Joe, a guy who paints nudes for a living, to live with him for a while.

As you can expect, Ka-fai begins a relationship with his secretary, Helen. Due to his affair with Helen, Ka-fai neglects Ka-wai, and she becomes very bored. So naturally, Ka-wai begins an affair with Joe. Tension surrounds the threat of each illicit affair being unveiled.

Without the element of Category III style love scenes, 'Temptation' is a movie that tests LEE Chiu's ability as a dramatic director. Unfortunately, LEE Chiu's direction is disappointing. Most of the dialogue throughout the whole movie is either optional or unnecessary. As a result, the whole movie is very boring.

The first fifteen minutes of the movie is about the death of Ka-fai's father, and how nervous Ka-fai is about taking over his dad's troubled business. However, instead of conveying the expected shock of such sudden events, and emotional highs and lows of such a situation, everything feels very run-of-the-mill. The movie totally fails to describe the feelings of the characters.

Perhaps LEE Chiu was trying to showcase some conflicts between Joe and Ka-wai when they first meet. But the dialogue is so poor that it doesn't fulfill the dramatic function and create the adequate amount of tension. The quarrels between Ka-wai and Joe in the movie are annoying and tiresome.

'Temptation' is a rather typical story in which a couple tries to look for another outside relationships in addition to their marriage. This type of story can be romantic, comic, or erotic. Unfortunately, 'Temptation' is none of those, and the results are pointless. I wonder if LEE Chiu could have improved the movie if he put in some love scenes.

In short, 'Temptation' is so boring that you will lose interest after the first five minutes. There is not quite enough dramatic material to engage the audience for the entire length of the movie. I don't have much to say about the movie since the movie itself says nothing.