box of Jack

Forgive this indulgence but I’m going to take you for a detour into mid-90’s, popular Hong Kong cinema and I’m going to season it with a boatload of links to Wikipedia. The name of the movie is Forbidden City Cop starring Stephen Chow, a popular Hong Kong entertainer who is only now being recognized by Western audiences in exports such as Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle.

Chow’s comedic style consists of parody, slapstick, cartoon violence mixed with heavy helpings of satirical references to Chinese culture. I grew up watching his comedy; wishing upon shooting stars that somehow his latest releases would find themselves washed up on Australia’s distant shores and perhaps loaded into a back of truck to be resold in a dimly lit corner of an Asian grocery. And so, in my recent quiet afternoons in my downtown Seattle apartment, I have been reliving my childhood and re-watching his films.

Forbidden City Cop stands out despite the plot being flatter than Chow’s usual work. The story is set in ancient China where Chow plays as one of the Emperor’s secret, elite guards but he knows no kung fu and instead spends his time making silly inventions. In his home life, he keeps his identity secret from his loving wife and masquerades as a gynecologist despite his lack of medical training. This movie can be pitched as a James Bond parody set in China’s imperial era. (Oddly enough, the movie isn’t a particularly focused parody and you’d be better served with From Beijing with Love.)

What sets this film apart is the character of the wife, played by Carina Lau. Their on-screen chemistry is just amazing. Despite this being a nonsensical film littered with anachronisms and no cohesive story, the husband and wife scenes are pure joy. It’s a breath of fresh air considering the female characters in Stephen Chow’s movies are typically generic love interests; girls that serve as plot devices that have no personality and are characterised entirely by their good looks. I don’t know if it’s genius or just ironic that it’s in a Bond parody where we find a genuine female character that we can care about.

After finding out her husband isn’t ticklish, she is forced to bite.

I want to go on record as saying I love the dynamic of this married couple in this movie and it’s exactly the sort of couple I wish I could write. They love each other through their sense of humour and their idiosyncrasies; Chow plays his usual slapstick, fun-loving self and Lau replies as a devoted wife who is quick-witted, strong and unbelievably warm.

Matching sleepwear is a sure sign of a loving couple.

Sure, I’m probably blowing this one aspect out of proportion and talking you into watching an otherwise mediocre film. But through the rose-coloured glasses of my childhood nostalgia, I am just madly in love with every scene that the two are together in. This kind of deeper interaction with a female lead was a departure for Chow and one that I wish he’d make more often.