Hon Kon daiyasokai: Tatchi & Magi

Japanese boy-band SMAP's Katori Shingo is lovably girly in this weird cultural mish-mash, which has Katori (Japanese) and Anita Yuen (Chinese) resorting to some very suspect English to communicate. While Katori still cheerfully cross-dresses quite regularly on Japanese television, witnessing him attempt to actually pass as a woman semi-seriously and for nearly an entire feature film is a different matter. Back then he was young and svelte enough to do so surprisingly well. Viewers hoping for an open-minded film, which would seem to be evident considering all the cross-dressing, may be disappointed. There's more than a touch of homophobia in here. The story makes little sense and the plot seems unbalanced, but Katori fans take note: he dances the lambada in lingerie. How could you go past that?

This is an unusual Japan/Hong Kong collaboration. Japanese director Tayayoshi Watanabe creates a great action comedy much funnier and with better action and music track than most Hong Kong films instead of typical HK slapstick. Hong Kong Night Club is more like a decent Japan or American action comedy. Also there is a gay interest story mixed into a hetero romantic triangle. The story involves two investigative Japanese reporters who arrive just before the 1997 Hong Kong hand-over to China. They are investigating Triad involvement in the new, soon to be China owned Hong Kong. Since the triads are so prevalent, they end up getting more involved than they wanted, and are running for their lives from the gangsters who do not want to be reported about. This is a very entertaining movie, and not just the usual fare. Since the two lead roles are Japanese, most of the dialog is in Japanese, with a lot of Cantonese spoken by the other Hong Kong actors.