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風流一夜情 (1993)
One Night Stand


Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 01/25/2001
Summary: Awful and Amateurish

First, some riveting dialogue.
"Why are you so rarty ?"
"Go to sheep now".

Any film with Tsui Man Wa, Lam Wai (2) and Guk Fung can't be all bad. Right ?

I've watched many less than wonderful films with Tsui Man Wa. Her being in them has generally made things bearable. She is a very likeable actress with a happy and friendly manner. Lam Wai (2) is Asia's answer to Don Johnson (of Miami Vice) - the resemblance is simply astonishing. And dear old Guk Fung is always a pleasure.

Unfortunately, whatever collected magic these three have was not enough for this piece of trash.

"Amateurish" is a word which comes strongly to mind. After the first ten minutes (when Guk Fung plays quite a nice family scene), the acting is consistently atrocious. If the actors had read their lines off cue cards, it probably would have improved things !
There are several times when people are hit, slapped or beaten. I've never seen a film where the blows so obviously did not connect. The impression is that the director filmed the rehearsals, then didn't bother to continue, and the company just spliced the results and released it.

And, another first, some of the scenes are out of sequence ! This is one of those "project the movie in a cinema and record it on video" productions. In at least two cases, they start the wrong reel, giving the eerie feeling of previewing upcoming bits.

And the Cat III rating is a joke, and a lame on at that. I'd say this film earns Cat IIa, or might just scrape into IIb. The first (brief) nude scene occurs after 30 minutes, and it's one of the out-of-sequence bits, a short bathing sequence where Lam Wai spies on the nude women of the odd church. There's a few more topless shots, some very discreet full nudity and a couple of tame sex scenes. I wonder if the producers bribed someone to get Cat III put on the label ?

So, is this film a total loss ? Wish I could say yes, and hence consign it to the "wonderfully bad" category. Unfortunately, I did enjoy three brief moments. One was the bathing scene, Two was Guk Fung's brief dinner table bit, and the third was the appearance on Cho Boon Feng.

Who ? No, he's not famous. But I've had a soft spot for this guy, ever since I saw the marvellous "Madam Q". Cho seems to be Taiwan's answer to "Elvis" Tsui Kam Kong. He's tall, muscular, bald and seems to do only porn pics. Anyway, as soon as this guy appeared, I cracked up laughing. I'm not sure why. The guy has a comically evil face, and he spends most of his brief appearance standing over a prostrated naked girl, madly waving his arms, chanting and screwing up his face, as a trio of other naked girls chant in front of him.

Last of all, you're unlikely to ever some across this film unless, like me, you trawl amongst obscure films which are not labelled with an English title. The cover of this LD featured a large pic of Tsui Man Wa in the act of taking off her top (misleading, as she doesn't do so in the film). "One Night Stand" is the title given to this film by an American distributor, possibly Taiseng. This title has nothing to do with whatever the story is.

For the few moments of pleasure this film may give, the remainder is a high price to pay. Recommended to avoid !



Reviewer Score: 3