Movie Review: Diva/華麗之後

A veteran singer questions her life and career.

“Was it really worth my mom and I double-teaming[ed: name removed so I stay alive] ?”

A young, aspiring singer wants to become successful, but is unsure what (and who) she would give up to get there.

Plastic surgery: before and after.

A manager who appears to be callous and indifferent may just have a heart of gold. 

“Penis! Gold penis! I really need to fire my assistant…”

How classic.

How timeless.

How pedestrian.

Considering who’s backing the film, how ironic.

Having Emperor Entertainment doing a movie about the evils of Hong Kong show business is like hiring Leni Reifenstahl to do a documentary about Auschwitz.

If you think that comparison is heavy-handed, ask Carina Lau.

Is it really any surprise that the manager/producer characters in  Diva/華麗之後, while shown to be less than stellar humans, still come off as essentially blameless or somehow equally victimized?

So the film is laughable from there forward.

Speaking of which…

The idea of Joey Yung, or anyone of Joey’s age actually being considered, much less qualified, to be a diva is ridiculous.

Whitney Houston might have smoked her kneecaps off, but she never sank to this.

Joey Yung can’t play (much less be) a diva. She doesn’t have the age, talent, or experience.

Kinda like the director.

Heiward Mak is young, and her films show it. The subjects she essays to address are frankly beyond her years. As a consequence, Diva/華麗之後 comes off as ham-fisted, overwrought, and told from a perspective that is laboriously immature. 

Blind (maybe) love interest? Check.

He’s lucky. Hecan’t watch this movie.

Life-changing experience that plays like an after-school special? Check.

This isn’t in the movie, it’s just a disaster.

Parallels with reality for all the worst/wrong reasons? Check.

The best thing about Diva/華麗之後 is Chapman To, who plays his role quite commendably well. If there is any reason at all to see this movie, his performance is essentially the only one. But it is a very, very good performance, and his ability to be convincing is testament to his growing skill as a dramatic actor.

Hong Kong to remake The Legend of Bagger Vance.

Of course, his role is the only one with any depth or dimension to it, so he comes off as a human walking among a pile of life-size cut outs of other people, but he is still quite funny and very good.

When you’re the producer, you can make sure your role is the best of the bunch. I’m not saying that’s what happened. It’s all conjecture on my part. But what do I know about movies?

Some of the smallest roles were actually the most memorable. Matt Chow was hilarious as a typical member of the entertainment industry whose English name should have been Randy.

“That’s not a bottle in my pants, I’m just happy to be here.”

He played his scene remarkably well, to the extent that you could almost forget it was Matt Chow and see only the character instead.

Along those lines, Clement Cheng was remarkably convincing at playing an aspiring rapist.

It feels odd to say that about someone, but hopefully the compliment doesn’t have too much back-hand on it.  

It’s the matter-of-factness the character displays that makes it so unsettling and so real. 

What makes that scene so effective is also what’s so  douche-chilly about the entire film: this kind of nastiness is SOP in the local entertainment industry, and trying to make it look anomalous only amplifies its ubiquity.

“It rubs the lotion on its skin or it doesn’t get the Baleno endorsement…” 

The best thing about watching this movie was the ‘meet and greet’ beforehand; Chapman To and Joey Yung spoke to the audience and gave away some (unsigned) movie posters.

The best moment was when Chapman said this was Joey’s first film in 9 years and she said “No, I was in The Jade and the Pearl.”

Chapman immediately replied “Let’s try and forget about that!”*

I couldn’t agree more.

When her next film comes out, I think he’ll encourage the audience to forget about Diva/華麗之後.

I know I would. 

**Thanks to Kevin Ma for the translations and the meet-n-greet photo. *