Chinese Odyssey 2002

Jeffrey Lau wrote and directed this Hong Kong comedy, produced by Wong Kar-wai, and it has no hesitation about sending up his manner. Set in the Ming dynasty: a princess escapes the palace disguised as a male warrior, and both the provincial tough played by Tony Leung and his sister Phoenix fall for the newcomer. The humour comes from the mo lei tau tradition, Hong Kong comedy that treats nonsense as a method and runs on wordplay and abrupt shifts of register. Shakespeare, Shaw Brothers pictures, the wire work of Peking opera and Wong Kar-wai's own slow-motion romance are imitated in turn. That Tony Leung is playing entirely against type is a substantial part of the joke. Faye Wong plays the princess, with Zhao Wei and Chang Chen filling out the cast. It won Best Film and Best Actress from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. Who it is for: viewers who enjoy Hong Kong absurdist comedy and films that play with genre. Who it is not for: anyone who does not know the references, since most of the jokes lean on other films.