Lan Kwai Fong (2011) (Blu-ray) (2020 Reprint) (Hong Kong Version) Blu-ray Region All

The plot revolves around a group of well-dressed youngsters who frequent the area and its clubs, in particular playboy bachelor Steven (Z.O.), who has a one night stand with gorgeous air stewardess Jennifer (Shiga Lin). The film skips forward to follow the ups and downs of their relationship over the coming months, as he struggles with notions of commitment and various misunderstandings get in their way. Although things don't work out between the two of them, as soon as Jennifer gets engaged to his boss (Jun Kung), Steven finds that he still has feelings for her. At the same time, his best friend, bar manager Jacky (Jason Chan) gets involved with Jennifer's friend Jeana (Jeana Ho) while trying to juggle his pregnant and emotionally disturbed ex (Bonnie Xian), and another of their gang, nice guy lawyer Sean (Gregory Wong) spends his time chasing after flirtatious party girl Cat (DaDa Chan), despite her sleeping with pretty much every guy she comes across.

It's really quite easy to see why Lan Kwai Fong has gone down so well with audiences, as it delivers exactly as promised, being a non-stop, over the top, at times hysterical parade of good looking people and couples having sex and going through problems and issues that are nowhere near life threatening. The film certainly does pack in a great deal of sex, in an impressive array of locations (though primarily nightclub toilets and alleyways) and although it doesn't feature any actual nudity, director Wilson Chin makes the very most of the actors' heaving cleavages and other parts of their anatomies, with eye catching and absurdly tight costumes that leave very little to the imagination. Whilst this might be a bit of a tease, and a category III rating might have helped, the film actually benefits from an odd air of innocence, especially since Chin never lays on any heavy handed moralising or the kind of harsh life lessons which might have been expected.

As a result, the film makes for a great deal of guilt-free fun, and though it does deal with some half relevant issues such as promiscuity, one night stands and pregnancy, it's clearly far more concerned with making its cast look good, delivering flashy visuals and a pounding dance soundtrack. Chin's direction is breezy and fast paced, switching smoothly between the various subplots, and although it's unlikely that viewers will really care about the characters, their various situations do at times ring true. It also helps that the film clearly isn't taking itself too seriously and is very funny in places, in part due to the fact when not bumping and grinding the cast spend most of the running time engaging in amusingly heavy drinking. With this and the overall glossiness of the backdrop bars and clubs, the film paints a pretty appealing picture of the area's hedonistic lifestyle, and while not being about much more than characters getting worked up about who is sleeping with who, it has a semi-authentic feel and definitely wins points for being a proudly local Hong Kong production instead of aiming for Mainland market.

In this respect, though it certainly has its flaws and is about as shallow and inconsequential as its characters, Lan Kwai Fong is a very enjoyable film indeed, and the kind of unpretentious entertainment which the Hong Kong industry definitely needs to be producing more of.

by James Mudge - BeyondHollywood.com