Jin ping mei

For some reason, when purchasing this I thought I was buying some 70s classic just released on DVD but no this is brand new. A fantastic opening, very lush with a great fleshy scene, involving acupuncture and death. Indeed the first half hour including more couplings with more wonderful looking ladies but then the film begins to loose its way. We go from here to there, starting this, forgetting that and in the end getting completely stuck. For the last third or so we resort to slapstick and general jokiness that virtually negates all the erotic content. Very strange use of the, admittedly agile, shaven headed young lady who decides to leave the nunnery and take up with our hero. One particular scene is so shot it gives the appearance of being between two men, not presumably the intention. There is a rather touching scene with a small footed angel and this probably is worth it for the first half hour although overall it is a pretty shoddy affair that finally stops, with seeming clips from scenes that might have been intended to have been made.

This amusing soft-core flick is apparently based on an ancient Chinese work of literature about a libertine seducing women and climbing the social hierarchy, without morality or responsibility to act as hindrances.

Fear not, though: for those looking for sex and nudity - and why else would you be interested - "Sex & Chopsticks" delivers. I was surprised to find it has any literary basis at all: it's hard to imagine the screenplay this was made from, let alone a classic story. The main character, apparently an arch anti-hero in the original, here just wants to get laid, and after you see the lengths his father, a "sexologist", goes toward making him ready - including training him to do penis push ups! - you can hardly begrudge him that.

The movie doesn't really have a story, it's just our (anti?)hero going from one beautiful woman to the next, all of whom end up naked. The title is presumably an attempt to link this movie to the '90s HK blockbuster, "Sex and Zen", but it's not as madcap or as memorable as that one was.

I have seen a number of Jin Ping Mei adaptations that take great liberties for creating a protagonist much more sympathetic than Ximen Qing (or Saimun Hing as you are likely to hear in Cantonese) is actually portrayed in the novel. Frankly, being a typical social parasite who uses his material wealth and other possible means to serve his sexual appetite and to ensure the subjugation of lesser people, he is no likable fellow at all. However, "Sex & Chopsticks" move further than its predecessors did and creates a rather compassionate background to Ximen Qing's exploits. Even his cruelest act, the murder of Lotus' husband is justified with his deep romantic interest in the woman. In this sense, the film suffers from some defects not very different from those shared by most adaptations of classical literary works. On the other hand, veteran Norman Chui presents the convincing portrait of a sexual gong fu master and Japanese actresses are really worth their respective roles. The story is continued in the second film and I wonder how it is handled in the follow-up.