 |
 |
| Showtimes | Fri
March 12 8:45 PM / KAB312G Mon March 15 5:30 PM / KAB315A |
|
Hong Kong/China, 1998, 101
mins, 35mm, color, Cantonese w/e.s.
Director/Writer YONFAN Manshih (in person); Exec. Prod. Sylvia CHANG, Ai CHIA; Cinematographer Henry CHUNG; Editor Kam MA; Music Chris BABIDA; Cast Stephen FUNG, Daniel WU, Jason TSANG, Terence YIN, SHU Qi
BEAUTY, the new film by Hong Kong director Yonfan, has all the melodrama of a season’s worth of daytime television, but it’s even better. Inspired by a real-life scandal in Hong Kong (in which suggestive photos of several of the city’s policemen were found in the home of a playboy-photographer, alongside semi-nude pictures of gigolos), Yonfan seizes this irony to make a film in which the lines of right and wrong, past and present, blur into a sensuous daydream.
The striking Jet (Fung) is a much sought-after gigolo. He’s also a loner, and in typical Yonfan fashion, he yearns for love but can’t seem to find it. His hard shell, however, is cracked by a dreamy cop named Sam (Wu), who appears to possess everything Jet lacks: a stable and loving family life, an honest living, innocence, and purity. Little does Jet know that Sam has skeletons of his own. Weaving in and out of the narrative are Jet’s roommate Ching (Tsang), a mysterious woman (Shu), and a delicious pop star, K.S. (Yin).
Yonfan’s keen eye for beauty and composition made him a celebrated photographer in Hong Kong. He translates this remarkable talent to film in BEAUTY, lusciously capturing the sun-drenched city and its handsome men in all of their seductive glory.
—Charles Kim
Presented with Club Asia, Frameline and Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA)