Reviewed by: pingpinyero Date: 05/03/2003 Summary: SM= Sincere Masterpiece The movie reminded me of my stay in Mong Kok, where everynight I would walk around and see females in miniskirts and tiny blouses all around. But do they still have lots of whores in Temple Street now?I believe I saw lots and lots of them in Soy Street. Anyway, I felt the movie's sincerity, and that is what I liked most about it. In the Philippines most, if not all, movies about prostitution revolve on only one plot: The girls need money desperately, so even though they dont like it, they take off their underwears and spread their legs.And,this plot only serves as a cover for the producer's wanting to make money from horny guys who want to see boobs and pumping scenes. In this movie,the whores were presented simply as whores who get paid for sex,and they go on with their lives that way. What it emphasized is about their being human,despite their dirty and lowly work. It was really worth watching.It's gripping,riveting,and at the same way,funny and entertaining.The only flaw of this movie is its ending.The characters were not given their due endings.What happened to Eva afterwards?Did Hua and An get together?Did Ms.Hsiao continue her acting career? if they have shown what happened to Ting and his girlfriend, we deserve to know what happened to the other characters. But the movie's good points definitely washed out its shortcomings.

Reviewed by: mejones Date: 03/21/2002 The story of five very different prostitutes Carina Lau (always enjoyable!) is the lead, a club girl who becomes ill, but for a change in these kinds of films, doesn't completely ignore the doctor and run herself into the ground (I kept waiting for her to spit up blood and die!) Fung Bo Bo (?) plays her adopted mother, an aging prostitute who keeps a very small "stable" in Temple Street, but nevertheless has a lot of respect and power among the locals. Fung's real daughter is Vivian Chow, an up-and-coming actress who has completely rejected her mother because of her profession. She ever-the-less ends up following in her footsteps, being forced to give "favours" to film execs in order to get the good roles. New kid in the neighborhood is May Lo, who picks Andy Hui to be her protector/jr. pimp and they had some cute and funny interactions. The quintet is rounded out by Pauline Chan as the most pathetic, servicing incredibly perverted clients to send money back home AND help support her childhood love (Waise Lee) in his bid to become a doctor (despite the fact he plans to marry a rich fellow student!) Some of her scenes were so degrading and repulsive I had to fast forward through them, though they made their point. I know it all sounds very confusing and convoluted (not to mention soap opera-ish!), and I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out the relationships until about half way through. Regardless, in the end it was a very well-done and satisfying story, all of the characters intersecting at least superficially. Recommended. PS forgot to mention that "Girls..." also features Ekin Cheng as "the youngest male virgin in Hong Kong"!!! TOO FUNNY!