Mo hua qing

Granted, I hadn't even heard about this 1990 Hong Kong romantic fantasy movie titled "Mo Hua Qing" (aka "Fantasy Romance") as I stumbled upon it in 2022. But seeing that the movie had Tony Chiu-Wai Leung on the cast list, and it being a Hong Kong movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I had to watch what writer Kiu-Ying Chan and director Taylor Wong had to offer.

Well, now as I have seen the movie, I must say that "Mo Hua Qing" was quite out there, even for an early 1990s Hong Kong movie in the romantic movie genre. I must admit that I found the storyline, written by Kiu-Ying Chan, to be rather ludicrous and sort of erratic and lacking a proper red thread to guide the audience through the narrative.

Lead actor Tony Chiu-Wai Leung was hard to take serious in a movie of this magnitude, because it just felt like something that was ill-tailored for his talent. The movie also had the likes of Deannie Ip, Joey Wang and Paul Chun on the cast list. So for fans of the Hong Kong cinema, there are some familiar faces to be seen.

Hand on heart, then I wasn't enjoying "Mo Hua Qing", simply because the movie felt like a cluttered mess. So I don't feel that I have been missing out on anything particular grand here for the past 32 years. There are far better romantic movies from the early 1990s to be found in the Hong Kong cinema.

My rating of "Mo Hua Qing" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Offbeat, colourful and cutesy Hong Kong fantasy romance of a well-worn story concept. There happens to be two plot threads streaming from this story… one more serious than the other.

Shing is a down-on-his luck cartoonist, who's on his way home when he hits a lady ghost Ching-Ching. This leaves the spirit stranded in the human world, where she attaches herself to Tony whenever his out of luck. While stranded there she meets another demonic spirit (known as ghost whore) who's trying to revive her dead son, after they were mistakenly sentenced to death for adultery.

It's likable, but familiar entertainment with a lousy ending. Batty characters come and go, while the scenarios are very cartoon-like with the jokes becoming tiring. Well it's like a comic strip coming to life, which does happen in the film in one very interesting scene. It's an odd and jarring mixture, mingling comical interactions and misunderstandings with some atmospheric imagery and nasty surprises. Still it's the central relationship that takes up most of the time where she helps him achieve what he wants, which for most part is quite dull. Where ghosts tease and torment the living, where the physical gags feature heavily and so does a superstitious framework when Feng Tien's Taoist priest arrives on the scene. The performances are mainly on the eccentric side (Tony Leung & Deannie Yip) and Joey Wang has a beautiful presence.

This is yet another romance between a man and a female ghost. I usually enjoy these movies, except this one does everything wrong: Wrong focus, wrong time period, wrong story, bad acting, no action. Instead of focusing on the lovely Joey Wong and her relationship with Tony Leung, the film wastes a lot of time on the supposedly comic Hijinx of Leung and Chu, during several unfunny episodes with very bad acting. The action is transposed to the present, losing the usual charm and beauty of this type of movie. The story is uninteresting and confusing, mixing unsuccessfully several strands for no other reason than to move the plot. Tony Leung's performance is badly overdone, his character is unlikable and plain stupid. I cannot believe this is the same actor featured in Hardboiled or In The Mood of Love. Even bad Hong Kong movies can be redeemed by some action scenes, but this movie doesn't have them either. Only one short sequence, which seems like a parody of "A Chinese Gost Story", a much better film.

So what's left? Joey Wong is as charming and cute as ever, in one of her many female ghost roles. The animation scene at the end is interesting if cheaply executed. That's about it. Not enough even for Joey Wong fans to make this movie watchable.