Fruit Chan Movies
- 2009
Two filmmakers offer dramatically different tales of life in the Chinese city of Chengdu in this two-part omnibus feature. "1976," directed by Fruit Chan, takes place in the midst of the Cultural Revolution, as Crazy Zhao (Guo Tao) displays his easy skill with the traditional long-stemmed teapot at a small café. One of his fellow employees (Anya Wu) has fallen for him and is fascinated with his skills, but her love for him is destined to be unrequited as the winds of political change sweep through the city. And in "2029," music video director Cui Jian follows two characters (Huang Xuan and Tan Weiwei) through the bizarre futuristic city that sprung up after much of Chengdu was devastated in a 2001 earthquake. The twenty-something man and woman were both children when the disaster hit, and they search for signs of the old city as they're bombarded with visual information in the new one. Chengdu, Wo Ai Ni (aka Chengdu, I Love You) was originally intended to be a three-part feature, but director Hur Jin-ho opted instead to expand his contribution, set in 2008, into a feature of its own. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2004
What first began as a short-form study in terror now expands to a full-fledged, feature-length fright fest as director Fruit Chan explores the high price that people are willing to pay for youth and beauty. Originally one third of the horror anthology Three...Extremes, Dumplings tells the tale of a traditional Chinese dish infused with a disturbing, but rejuvenating twist. Mrs. Lee is a retired television star whose once-glamorous visage is slowly succumbing to the degenerative effects of time. Her career has ended and her husband is beginning to wander astray. Upon learning that a mysterious chef known as Aunt Mei (Bai Ling) has a secret recipe for dumplings that is rumored to turn back the clock and restore one's youthful appearance, the desperate former starlet contacts the cook in order to arrange a tasting. But these aren't your typical dumplings. In order to achieve the powerful effects that her clients demand, Aunt Mei has substituted the traditional pork for the meat of aborted fetuses. Impatient that the unique form of rejuvenation isn't working as fast as she had hoped, Mrs. Lee soon begins seeking out an even more potent recipe. Though the new and improved recipe does indeed give Mrs. Lee the results she has been longing for, an unexpected complication soon leads to some decidedly unusual side effects, and it's not long before Mrs. Lee's curious husband appears in the kitchen of the alluring Aunt Mei looking for answers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Yeung, Bai Ling, (more)
Three Asian directors, from Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, join forces to create an omnibus horror film, Three...Extremes. In Fruit Chan's "Dumplings," shot by Christopher Doyle, Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung), a thirtysomething former actress with a philandering husband (Tony Leung) goes to visit Aunt Mei (Bai Ling), who sells the most expensive dumplings in Hong Kong. Mrs. Li knows about their rejuvenating powers, and she also knows about their unpleasant main ingredient, but after some initial nausea, she digs right in. In Oldboy writer/director Park Chan-wook's "Cut," a successful filmmaker (Lee Byung-hun of Joint Security Area) arrives home to find that a disgruntled extra (Lim Won-hee) has taken over his home, and fastened his pianist wife (Kang Hye-jun of Oldboy) to the grand piano. The madman threatens to cut off the wife's fingers, one by one, unless the director strangles the helpless child he's tied to the couch. Takashi Miike directs the last segment, "Box," about a young author and former circus performer, Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) seemingly haunted by the ghost of her twin sister, who died a mysterious and horrible death while practicing their act. Adding to Kyoko's trauma, her editor (Atsuro Watabe) is a dead ringer for her old stepfather/ringmaster, who may have perished in the same "accident" that took her sister's life. Three...Extremes was shown at Subway Cinema's New York Asian Film Festival in 2005. For the American release of Three... Extremes, the order in which the films are presented was altered from the original "Box," "Dumplings," and "Cut" to "Dumplings," "Cut," and "Box." This film was actually preceded by another omnibus film, Three, that was nevertheless retitled Three... Extremes II for the English-language market and issued after this one. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bai Ling, Miriam Yeung, (more)
- 2002
This dark-humored feature by Hong Kong's Fruit Chan stars Tsuyoshi Abe as Dong Dong, nicknamed "The God of Toilets" by his friends, who was born and abandoned in the filthiest public toilet in Beijing. Through a series of interconnected narratives set off by Dong Dong's quest to find a wonder drug to cure his dying grandmother, the film follows a variety of characters on similar searches through China, India, Korea, and New York. The disparate characters, representing a polyglot cross section of the Asian diaspora, are linked both in their search for ways to transcend death and by a much less lofty fascination with the ways different cultures dispose of human waste. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tsuyoshi Abe, Zhe Ma, (more)
- 2001
Sex, violence, and pork are the hallmarks of this ultra-black comedy from maverick Hong Kong filmmaker Fruit Chan. Boss Chu (Glen Chin) is the rotund proprietor of a fast-food stall specializing in pork located in a decaying Hong Kong shanty town. Boss Chu runs the business with his equally porcine sons Tiny (Leung Sze-ping) and Ming (Ho Sai-man). Living near the pork stall is a teenaged would-be gangster, Wong Chi-keung (Wong You-nam), who though e-mail makes the acquaintance of a young woman calling herself "Shanghai Angel Hung-Hung" (Zhou Xun), a prostitute recently arrived in Hong Kong from China. After doing frequent business with Wong, Hung-Hung begins frequenting the pork stall, where she becomes close friends with young Tiny. However, Ming soon develops a more carnal interest in Tiny's new playmate, and Hung-Hung takes advantage of Ming's infatuation by seducing him. Boss Chu is also attracted with the young prostitute, and she begins working her charms on the father of the family. Once Wong, Ming, and Boss have all fallen under Hung-Hung's spell, the three men each begin receiving threatening letters from a lawyer, who claims that Hung-Hung is underage and that statutory rape charges will be filed against them unless they're willing to pay, leading to some unpleasant visits from the blackmailer's enforcers. Heunggong Yau Gok Holeiwut is the second film in a planned trilogy about Chinese prostitutes in Hong Kong, following Fruit Chan's 2000 release Liulian Piao Piao. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Fruit Chan's second feature of 2000 takes its title from the durian, a fruit whose large, ungainly exterior and delicious taste serve as a metaphor for the film's Hong Kong setting. Yan (Qin Hailu) and Fan (Mak Wai Fan) are neighbors in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district. Yan is a 21-year-old prostitute who works for a pimp and spends her off-hours watching TV in her miniscule apartment or hanging out with other prostitutes at a local cafe. She has come to Hong Kong from mainland China to make money and on her more profitable days services nearly 40 men. Fan, on the other hand, is just a child; like Yan, she is from the mainland and has moved to Hong Kong illegally, but she has come with her family so her disabled father can more easily make a living. Fan spends her days washing dishes with her mother in a restaurant, but she witnesses Yan's activities and the two eventually become friends. Midway through the film, Yan's permit expires and she returns to her home in the cold north. After cutting off her hair, she divorces her husband and thinks about returning to Hong Kong with her savings. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Hong Kong director Fruit Chan's second film in a projected trilogy about the city's 1997 transfer of political power from England to China (following 1997's Made In Hong Kong), Huinin Yinfa Dakbit Do/The Longest Summer is an epic drama about a handful of friends who confront the ongoing political upheaval by taking up a life of crime. Three months before Hong Kong is to be returned to China, Ga-yin (Tony Ho) finds himself without a career when the Hong Kong Military Service Corps is disbanded. Ga-Yin and his buddies soon join forces with Ga-Yin's brother Ga-suen (Sam Lee), a petty criminal who wants to make a name for himself with the Triads, and together they hatch an elaborate scheme to rob a bank. The film's original Cantonese title roughly translates as "Last Year's Fireworks Were Especially Big." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Fruit Chan continues his informal trilogy about life in post-handover Hong Kong, which began with the edgy Made in Hong Kong (1997) and continued with his gangster epic The Longest Summer (1998). The film's story is told from the point of view of Little Cheung (Yiu Yuet-ming) a mischievous nine-year-old with a burning desire to make a buck. When not in school, Cheung delivers food from his family's restaurant to some of the seedier parts of his Hong Kong neighborhood, servicing establishments ranging from whorehouses to mahjongg parlors. His family consists of his father, a gruff Chinese patrician; his down-to-earth mother; his grandmother, who dreams longingly of her past as a dancer; and the family's Filipino maid, who sends much of her money to her husband in Manila. When Fan, a girl roughly his age, is refused a job at his father's restaurant, Cheung immediately hires her to help him make deliveries in exchange for half her tips, and they soon become close friends. As the film progresses, Cheung learns more about his family, including that he has an older brother he has never met who is now a reputed gangster. He also learns that his grandmother, who has instilled in him a healthy respect for traditional Cantonese values, previously traveled with renowned Chinese opera star Tang Wing-chueng. Meanwhile, Fan's family, illegal immigrants from mainland China, get deported. Immediately following the handover, Cheung sets out to look for his long-lost brother. This film won the Silver Leopard from the 2000 Locarno Film Festival and was screened at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Unusual for its straightforward handling of gay themes and homophobia, this commercially-oriented Hong Kong comedy-drama chronicles the upcoming wedding of marriage counselor Law Kar-Sing. But Law is gay and the thought of marrying Chuen, to whom he has been informally betrothed for many years, strikes him as pointless. This does not stop his parents from continuing to pressure him. Chuen too is becoming more aggressive with her demands. But marriage is only a part of Law's problems. Other pressures come from his career, his secret lover Sonny, and an aunt with a few secrets of her own. There is also Law's friend professor Kim who is dying of AIDS. Kim's family does not want his long-time lover to attend the funeral for fear of public scandal. This prompts Sonny to take a radical stance and only makes matters worse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1997
This $80,000 Hong Kong street-punk drama focuses on young tough Chung-chau (Sam Lee) and his slow-witted sidekick Sylvester (Wenbers Li). Sylvester finds blood-covered letters near the body of a suicide victim, schoolgirl Susan (Amy Tam). Chung-chau feels possessed by her spirit and delivers the letters. Chung-chau falls for 16-year-old Ping (Neiky Yim), and when she vanishes, he goes over the edge, agreeing to carry out a killing for his boss, Wing. Winner of a special jury prize at the 1997 Locarno Film Festival, it was also shown at the 1997 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- 1996
The title phrase refers to the crossing of lines. In Cantonese opera, an actor who literally becomes his or her character, leaving all sense of the original self behind is said to have crossed the imaginary hu-du-men. This comedy drama centers on Lang Kim-sum (portrayed by one of Hong Kong's finest actresses, Josephine Siao Fong-fong), a much-loved opera star and owner of a distinguished theatrical troupe who finds herself faced with many lines to cross as she prepares to retire and move to Australia with her husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This mediocre Hong Kong ghost story stars Lawrence Cheng as a nutty radio broadcaster whose life is saved by a ghost named Fang Yin (Nonie Tao). She was killed in the titular bloody finale of a romantic triangle gone wrong, and their stories are intertwined in a not particularly interesting manner by director Chan Kwok Kwan. David Wu and Chikako Aoyama co-star. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
