Le Sorcier du Népal

The Witch From Nepal was a pre A Better Tommorrow vehicle for Chow Yun Fat , at this time was a popular television actor, but had a hard time with success on the big screen. The film itself is a weird mix of fantasy, horror and romance and is held together by director Ching Sui Tung who (at this point) was best known for making cult swordplay/martial arts masterpiece Duel To The Death, as well as being action choreographer on a lot of the Hong Kong movies that you like. Sometimes the film gets a little confusing or hard to follow, but visually looks great with excellent action choreography. Chow Yun Fat's performance and screen presence is good. The Witch From Nepal is not the best film or the easiest to get into, but is still a decent watch and one of Chow Yun Fat's most unusual films.

Joe and his girlfriend Ida are on safari in Nepal, and he comes across the beautiful stranger Sheila. Unknowingly to him, his been chosen to take over the possession of a very important necklace and ancient knife that was held by mystical chief, which if the former item gets in hands of evil could be disastrous. After a bad accident and returning to Honk Kong, he encounters Sheila again and through her he miraculously recovers. Also he has gained some supernatural powers, and Sheila happens to be there for him. They fall in love and Joe harmlessly dabbles in his new abilities, until the actual demon comes looking for him and a battle eventuates for those powerful belongings.

Director Ching Siu Tung (from the beautifully erotic "A Chinese Ghost Story" series) loves to demonstrate a dream-like, supernatural-fantasy filled with mythical magic and rampantly high-flying stunts. The Honk Kong feature "Witch From Nepal" mostly provides on that quality. Arresting visuals amongst a thickly misty atmosphere is captured by fluently inventive photography, vividly penetrating lighting and a lingering score of adaptable moodiness. The flashy stunt work is over-the-top and fanatic, but staged with skilled rigour by Ching Siu Tung and the same can be said about the intense martial arts sequences (like the final thunderous showdown). Accompanying the no gravity bound leaps, are plenty of swoosh sounds. Some things did get laughable, because of the very serious nature placed upon something very silly and slight in detail. However they're one or two impressively creepy sequences involving a dog out-of-its-league and definitely the murky graveyard ambush. Covering the screen are many stylish images that rattle along, which are well-organised and illustrated handsomely. These aspects help a lot, but want makes this one a very ordinary offering, is that it's pretty slow to get to the business end. The premise idea (which maybe looked better on paper) is sidetracked by uninteresting filler and succumbs to a meandering pace. It takes a good hour or so, to break out of that pattern. The plot is hazy and extremely convenient in stretches, but really hurting it is a real lack of urgency and very little concentration on the offbeat developments. FX is cheap and dated, but looks able enough and it's worked into the feature with decent restraint. The always-formidable Chow Yun-Fat is in what you call a star vehicle does a fine job. The delightful Kit Ying Lam and stunning Emily Chu supply reasonable support. Dick Wei's does the action well and his wild appearance (albeit with the hokey cat screaming/roaring that became grating) is sound enough as the demon warrior.

The film richly looks the part with its mystical awe and swiftly frenetic stunts, but fiddly uneven story telling brings it down a couple of notches. Undemanding fantasy-action fodder.

As a die-hard Chow Yun-Fat fan, I had to see this film just to be completist. Unless you're in the same category, forget it. An embarrassing attempt at a mystic fantasy, this film seemed to be made by people who couldn't decide whether they really wanted to take it seriously or not. As a result you have a film which is so bad that it's scary - not only because of the enchanted testicles which the main character wears around his neck, either. The final battle atop a skyscraper is okay, but the film's only real (albeit momentary) saving grace is the steamy sex scenes between Chow Yun-Fat and Chu Po Yee.

This film is rated as Category II (not for children).

I have the feeling that some viewers go into this one with unfair expectations. If you think it's going to be an action flick just because Chow Yun Fat is the star, or think it's going to be horrific just because it has the word "witch" in the title, you're probably going to be disappointed.

One problem western viewers may have with Witch from Nepal is its inconsistency of mode. The beginning and end are action and horror oriented, while most of the middle portion has the leisurely pace of a romantic drama. Once the viewer adjusts to the unfamiliar genre hybrid nature of the proceedings, however, there's more than enough cuteness, action, and spooky stuff to keep an open-minded audience pleasantly occupied.

I really love magic cinema of film maker Ching Siu Tung, the martial arts director/choreographer and director genius of films like A Chinese Ghost Story series, Swordsman series, Terra Cotta Warrior and Duel to the Death, his debut. His films are as fast paced and over the top at the fight department as you'll ever experience in any film. So I was very curious to see Witch From Nepal aka Nepal Affair as it is one of his earlier works as a director, and I'd read some positive comments about the film.

Then I ordered the DVD from Hong Kong at ridiculously low price and watched the film. It stars Chow Yun-Fat as Joe, an artist who is visiting Nepal with his incredibly beautiful girl friend Ida, played by more than sweet Kit Ying Lam. Soon Joe meets mysterious girl Sheila, played by Emily Chu, and he learns that with the help of the girl, he has become able to commit supernatural things with the power of his mind, like lifting things on the table and do other things with the power of thought. That is fine with Joe as he plays with his new skill (watch the funny dinner scene!), but soon things start to go to wrong direction as Joe falls in love with Sheila and some very evil force/demon/The Warrior (played by Dick Wei) is after Sheila..

So what if the story seems not to make too much sense? These films are not watched and made because of believable story and plot; these are fantasy films without any need to follow rational rules but many people seem not to understand or accept this for some reason. They should not watch these films (applies to horror films, too, of course) because they don't understand those films and thus cannot review them noteworthy and find the films' real merits. Witch From Nepal is a combination of horror, fantasy, martial arts and mere action, but the result is not as great as I was hoping.

There are great fight scenes and action choreography, and the director's early wire work is fantastic. Camera angles are weird and the photography is great and original, so the film looks fine, and Ching Siu Tung shows once again his abilities as visually talented film maker. There is one memorable horror sequence, that ranks very high in the most scary moments in Hong Kong cinema, and the scene is near the end, where a misty cemetery becomes possessed and soon zombies start to wake up. And these are not hopping ghosts and ghouls like in Mr. Vampire (very great film!), but similar to Italian flesh eaters and so they reminded me of Lucio Fulci's work in zombie films. That scene is very fantastic with all its horror atmosphere and possessed evil and is not likely to be easily forgotten.

There are, however, many negative points in the film, too, and that's why this was a minor disappointment for me. The demon/warrior is some cat like human, so he sounds like cat, too. But as he screams all the time he's in picture, it becomes first very irritating, and then laughable, as it is meant to sound scary and threatening. The film is also occasionally too slow moving after the very promising and interesting first 30 minutes. The films looses its interest and becomes boring to watch. The last fight and last 10 minutes are again pretty interesting and very stylish, so it saves the film from leaving a total taste of disappointment in the mouth.

The music is okay, but occasionally reminded me DISTANTLY of Fabio Frizzi's music in Lucio Fulci's immortal Italian horror films, but I'm not saying Witch From Nepal copied Frizzi or something; it is just interesting to hear such a similarities that are probably purely coincidental and non-intended. The main merits of the film are photography and great fantasy elements which together create the atmosphere of the film, and because of those merits, this film is worth watching for Hong Kong fans.

Witch From Nepal isn't as near as great as Ching Siu Tung's masterpieces, but still an interesting piece in his filmography and among many Eastern fantasy films. I'll give this 6/10 and am glad I've seen again one Ching Siu Tung film more.