GeneChing
01-23-2014, 12:32 PM
Featuring Donnie Yen as Ip Man. Last year, Donnie did another goofy HK comedy CNY franchise - AWEW - which I reviewed after seeing it (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?59679-All-s-Well-Ends-Well&p=1233823#post1233823).
Hong Kong's 'Golden Chicken' Returns (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304632204579336071106433820)
The Lunar New Year movie season kicks off with "Golden Chickensss."
By Dean Napolitano
Jan. 23, 2014 5:58 a.m. ET
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/AW-AN728_SANDRA_G_20140123040204.jpg
'I like her optimism,' says Sandra Ng (with Anthony Wong in a scene from 'Golden Chickensss') of her character, Ah-Kam. Treasure Island Production Ltd
Hong Kong's nostalgia wave is pushing its way into the city's traditional Lunar New Year comedies.
"Golden Chickensss" harks back to the good old days of Hong Kong's recent history, before the city's frequent public protests by disgruntled residents and battles over milk-powder sales to hoarding Chinese mainlanders.
Actress Sandra Ng returns as Ah-Kam for the third installment on the life of the kind-hearted prostitute, whose encounters with male clients over the decades is set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Hong Kong.
In the follow-up to 2002's "Golden Chicken" and "Golden Chicken 2" a year later, Ah-Kam is now a madam (the title's triple "s" nods to both the group of young escorts in Ah-Kam's henhouse and the third entry in the franchise).
While the first two movies mixed humor with bittersweet drama to explore Hong Kong since the 1970s—powerful triad bosses, the 1997 handover, the Asian financial crisis, bird flu and SARS all got their due treatment—"Golden Chickensss" goes for bigger laughs.
As usual for a New Year comedy, the movie boasts a cavalcade of star cameos, including Donnie Yen in a send-up of Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster," about the legendary master Ip Man, the very character that made the martial-arts star a top leading man.
Audiences who know Hong Kong culture and understand Cantonese colloquialisms will hit gold with the "in" jokes. But at its heart, "Golden Chickensss" is an evocation of an era when people actually spoke to each other on the phone rather than sending text and voice messages.
"I think Hong Kong is a really, really special place. People are always nostalgic," says Ms. Ng, who took home the best-actress prize at the Golden Horse Awards for the first "Golden Chicken."
Before the handover, "I didn't know if [Hong Kong] belonged to China or to the British—it was kind of like an orphan," says the 48-year-old actress. "You have to struggle all through your life to find your identity. This is what I really want to say about Ah-Kam," she says. "I like her optimism."
Like the characters in Woody Allen's fantasy "Midnight in Paris," she says, people in Hong Kong are "always complaining that the era they live in is not good enough. But I think today you can still find the best [if you] open your eyes."
Ms. Ng's optimism even extends to the possibility of returning in the role.
"I think after 10 years, I can try to be a 58-year-old Ah-Kam."
Write to Dean Napolitano at dean.napolitano@wsj.com
Hong Kong's 'Golden Chicken' Returns (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304632204579336071106433820)
The Lunar New Year movie season kicks off with "Golden Chickensss."
By Dean Napolitano
Jan. 23, 2014 5:58 a.m. ET
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/AW-AN728_SANDRA_G_20140123040204.jpg
'I like her optimism,' says Sandra Ng (with Anthony Wong in a scene from 'Golden Chickensss') of her character, Ah-Kam. Treasure Island Production Ltd
Hong Kong's nostalgia wave is pushing its way into the city's traditional Lunar New Year comedies.
"Golden Chickensss" harks back to the good old days of Hong Kong's recent history, before the city's frequent public protests by disgruntled residents and battles over milk-powder sales to hoarding Chinese mainlanders.
Actress Sandra Ng returns as Ah-Kam for the third installment on the life of the kind-hearted prostitute, whose encounters with male clients over the decades is set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Hong Kong.
In the follow-up to 2002's "Golden Chicken" and "Golden Chicken 2" a year later, Ah-Kam is now a madam (the title's triple "s" nods to both the group of young escorts in Ah-Kam's henhouse and the third entry in the franchise).
While the first two movies mixed humor with bittersweet drama to explore Hong Kong since the 1970s—powerful triad bosses, the 1997 handover, the Asian financial crisis, bird flu and SARS all got their due treatment—"Golden Chickensss" goes for bigger laughs.
As usual for a New Year comedy, the movie boasts a cavalcade of star cameos, including Donnie Yen in a send-up of Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster," about the legendary master Ip Man, the very character that made the martial-arts star a top leading man.
Audiences who know Hong Kong culture and understand Cantonese colloquialisms will hit gold with the "in" jokes. But at its heart, "Golden Chickensss" is an evocation of an era when people actually spoke to each other on the phone rather than sending text and voice messages.
"I think Hong Kong is a really, really special place. People are always nostalgic," says Ms. Ng, who took home the best-actress prize at the Golden Horse Awards for the first "Golden Chicken."
Before the handover, "I didn't know if [Hong Kong] belonged to China or to the British—it was kind of like an orphan," says the 48-year-old actress. "You have to struggle all through your life to find your identity. This is what I really want to say about Ah-Kam," she says. "I like her optimism."
Like the characters in Woody Allen's fantasy "Midnight in Paris," she says, people in Hong Kong are "always complaining that the era they live in is not good enough. But I think today you can still find the best [if you] open your eyes."
Ms. Ng's optimism even extends to the possibility of returning in the role.
"I think after 10 years, I can try to be a 58-year-old Ah-Kam."
Write to Dean Napolitano at dean.napolitano@wsj.com