Yao ling ling

Enjoyable to watch.

Chinese movie industry is a mystery, only few movies are really ticket worthy would make me laugh and feel entertaining, and this is the one of the minorities! I swapped the trailer video on Facebook earlier, it looked promising, so I decided to give it a try. I thought it was a ghostbuster movie, during the movie, I was literally thought the zombies were real, and then the witch pretender and the Building neighbor would start their ghost catching advanture. The aroma was cool and built up, then the reverse plots were really unexpected, it turned out it's a pure comedy movie after all. Yet, the worst part is the ending, so cliche and cheesy sensational, too stiff to add those typical hongkong tvb elements.

Anyway, this movie is refreshable. In my personal favorite, I have a very low expectation for the Chinese movies, I barely watched less than 5 in a year, and at least 3/5 of them would let me down, and questioning what's wrong with the script writers. This movie was fun, we can consider it as a popcorn movie like many nonsense but hilarious American joke's movie. Besides, this is the first directing piece of Ng Kwan Yue's work, it's fairly to say she is good enough to pass the standard.

I hadn't heard of the 2017 movie "Goldbuster" (aka "Yao ling ling") from director Sandra Kwan Yue Ng before in 2020 when I was given the chance to sit down and watch it. And with it being an Asian movie, of course I sat down to watch it.

First of all, I will say that the movie was different. It was a comedy, but with a very enjoyable and funny horror-laced layer. And it worked quite well, because writers Muchun Cha, Yee-Hing Wong and Yunhai Zhou managed to compile a great story with good characters and a good amount of comedy.

"Goldbuster" is the type of comedy that might not appeal to the broader audience. But having grown up watching Asian movies, I found it to be rather enjoyable.

And it definitely helped that the movie had such talented performers as Francis Ng, whom I think is a great actor by the way, Alex Fong and Sandra Kwan Yue Ng herself on the cast list. They added a lot to the story, as did the rest of the cast actually.

You should have some insight into Asian culture in order to fully appreciate this dark comedy.

My rating of "Goldbuster" is a sound six out of ten stars. While it was enjoyable and watchable, it is hardly a movie that you will be playing again shortly after having seen it the first time. Don't get me wrong, it does have enough contents to sustain more than a single viewing, but I think it is far between viewings.

It's a short and delightful slice of Asian cinema telling a tale about a very modern situation for the drama element, adds a few bloody moments and zombies for the horror, brings us the familiar laughs you expect from the comedy of Hong Kong, and impresses with the visuals as a shining example of how far Hong Kong comedy has come!

You get social commentary that reminds you of Stephen Chow's Mermaid (corporate greed vs. a small group of powerless citizens) and slapstick comedy that occasionally tries too hard but still has some of the funniest moments toward the end.

If you're familiar with Sandra's work at all with Stephen Chow, give this one a try! or even if you simply like movies with a few twists and genre-blending, also check it out. As this was my first introduction to Sandra, I can tell she was doing what she does best as an actress but you may not laugh out loud as much as you would with other Hong Kong classics.

Still, give it a shot and whether it's the story, direction, effects, comedy, or silly scares...you'll definitely find something to love about it!