Released in 1995 but with a 1993 copyright on the print, Peter Ngor's brutal drama raises eyebrows from time to time but isn't much of an effective portrayal of the four girls. With the usual written arcs about coming from abusive homes, you can't and Ngor also refuses to root for any of these numb teenagers. Numb in a sense that they've never been programmed with traits such as respect, humanity or knowledge of when they're being duped. So they're all going to hell, willingly early on even and ultimately Ngor doesn't make this much of an interesting cinematic exploration. Admittedly the cast of unknowns (Ngor is the most prolific of the performers!) have a certain fresh energy that lends itself well to the parts and Girls Gang is certainly an effective, tough watch when it concerns itself with being a bloodbath. Watch Spacked Out instead however.

It indeed was a time in the mid 90s where films about disillusioned youth, preferably girls, hanging out on the streets, doing drugs and having casual sex was a profitable moviemaking (Fruit Chan's Made In Hong Kong and Lawrence Lau's Spacked Out later displayed quality in this regard but not for the masses). Coupled with the fact that the Category III rating was well in use (although audio censoring could run rampant throughout a film), movies like Girls In The Hood could easily be made. Having said easily, I also mean cheaply and without much directorial focus, as evident by director Alan Lo's work here.

The template as per usual deals with youths coming from broken or abusive homes, knowing nothing but the street behaviour around them and as a consequence of that, they grow highly unsympathetic when projected on-screen. Which is fine and Girls In The Hood is indeed structured as a drama/social commentary...and as a softcore porn film. But Alan Lo doesn't rise above the drama genre trappings or the exploitation ones and delivers one shoddy product. It's barely sincere attempts at themes, depth or plot so this is just one downward spiral from beginning to end, referring mainly to the quality of the filmmaking.

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Produced by Jimmy Wang Yu and directed by Taiwan veteran Ding San-Saai (whose last film was also Jimmy's last to date, The Beheaded 1000), the fall of a tiny little empire is portrayed in Girls Of The Night. That empire is a hotel for prostitutes, new and old, all located on the outskirts of town. Enter innocence in the form of Ah Jiao (Ling Yam) but this virgin is tricked into believing she only has to make a temporary pit stop before being re-united with her lover again. There are also dreams of love within the group where director Ding asks if that love can even and should be allowed to exist. Jarring jumps in the narrative begins representing signs of a very episodic product where much seems to be said but zero means anything. Even episodes of sadistic, war-damaged Japanese customers and Ah Jiao being drugged for her debut with a one possessing great psychosis doesn't turn into any kind of status. Not even laughable or suitable for the exploitation crowd. The unbearable 100 minutes continues to drag itself in the mud, giving us escalated melodrama of the ridiculous kind (no characters, no character-drama...simple little equation) and undercranked action that seems more like a commercial afterthought further sinks the attempted, valid nature of Girls Of The Night BELOW zero.

First there was Girls Without Tomorrow (aka Call Girl 88) and now this in name only revisit with David Lam still at the helm examines the doomed women in the hostess genre once more (and by the way, a Call Girl 92 was made the same year...just to make easily things comfortable and clear for us). Largely more of the same but not as extremely distressing as the 1988 movie, Lam's co-director Wong Chi also writes some fairly typical melodrama and arcs here. He centers events around Mama Hung (Petrina Fung) in Temple Street whose biggest concern is her daughter the aspiring actress (Vivian Chow) feeling shame, putting blame and hiding her past from the media. A veteran turning authoritarian on the scene (an engaging Carina Lau) acts as support while also being the object of desire of Onn (Ekin Cheng), one she liberated from virgin status. Pauline Chan plays the one prostitute that goes downhill the fastest, trying to support her friends and family back home in the Mainland but also taking part in the more depraved acts in her strife for more money. Finally, virgin character played by May Lo gets shown the ropes by slightly wimpy pimp essayed by Andy Hui and she grows into the role fast...

Pretty much episodic journeys, all detailing familiarity as it touches upon family relations, feeble future aspirations (considering they're whores only in people's eyes), depravity (in particular in men), the clashes you have with the triad world and some inevitable crushing emotional defeats along the way. It's not a flattering picture directors Lam and Wong paints of the populous and what prostitutes put up with. If clients aren't fat, old or Arabs, they're suave with a penchant for pouring alcohol, chili sauce, milk or what have you over Pauline Chan's body (and some whipping to cap it off too). But while there's no really above average drama coming out of Girls Without Tomorrow 1992, the fact that the casting generates an attractive frame and the director's actually do inject some slight hope into the character fates means it's a fairly smooth ride that is far, far from genre material that should be ashamed of itself. Some unexplored sub-tangents involving the characters of Waise Lee and Ekin Cheng represents sloppiness however and is evidence of just a few tads too much of a crowded movie.

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Taiwanese variant of various efforts that turned up in the 70s such as The Last House On The Left and I Spit On Your Grave (although ultimately more patterned after Abel Ferrara's Ms. 45 reportedly) but Girl With A Gun is definitely more subdued, which turns out to be its greatest weakness. Attention is spent on Liang Pi-Ho (Ying Hsia admirably trying to add subtle life into the material), mute since childhood after losing her parents and why she snaps into murder mayhem with the titular gun. In her case, it seems like a half-assed robbery and a mild (for the genre) attempted rape is enough to randomly scatter bullets. Liu Ga's script speaks of literally a lack of faith (a fairly poignant moment involves Liang watching a deaf-mute group doing "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands") and director Richard Chen certainly tells us something. Not enough however. Because cheap tricks such as repeating the theme song 20 times in the film, inverting colours to suggest whatever and lack of gritty effect hinders Girl With A Gun almost completely. Select moments, in particular Liang's final act of violence towards the end may be chilling but late good work doesn't give the film buoyancy.

Several scenes on the Ocean Shores vcd lack subtitles but it's a very sparsely told film anyway. A lifeless Alan Tam co-stars.

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Simon Loui's character gets thrown out by his vicious girlfriend and ends up taking on a VERY different social status than before. That of the beggar but together with a group of seemingly crazies (Victor Wong, Joe Junior and Elvis Tsui), he gets a new outlook and direction in life...

The world's most boring opening credits perhaps signals something clever but director Dang Wing-Yiu thinks he's more clever than he is as it turns out. Hence no proper execution needs to be done apparently. The movie just have to speak out loudly and via disjointed weirdness such as any scene with Elvis Tsui and his dog, there's apparently a social critique on display. Done with both somber and hyperactive reasons in mind, as the beggars teach Loui's character what a proper profession this is, he gets subjected to the "good" intentions by the salvation army, dumb police and people in general. The Hong Kong medical care isn't spared either but director Dang's moodswings within the film does him no favour as a satirical storyteller. Carrie Ng as Miss Yellow looks and feels straight out of a David Lynch movie too. Produced by Jacob Cheung.

Set in bizarro Hong Kong (Gnoh Gnok possibly) where the Women's Liberation Movement is in full effect. Meaning they pee on the streets, violently murder men, their fellow women, surgically insert pagers inside the husbands and this oppression has led to the creation of The Society For The Protection Of Cruelty To Husbands. This is where abused Q (Kent Cheng) turns...

One of the most odd comedies I've ever seen, its wild satire has an obvious intent and is not subtle. Basically turning everything on its head but still recognizing a serious real life problem beyond the screen, director Wan Siu-Kuen knows how to get laughs out of this black material. Creative even to a point, things turn muddled at times though in the very noisy frame as we follow Q's quest to achieve harmony in his relationship. Ultimately it comes down to neither side acting right, which sounds like a PSA of the grating kind but perhaps it would've been more so if Give Me Back was mundane. It most definitely is not. Hong Kong cinema being odd we're used to. By being this surreal however....it's something different. A minor pleasure in itself. Co-starring Chow Lai-Guen.

Changed around enough in order to prevent it from being a full on remake, A Gleam Of Hope is still obviously patterned after The Fugitive, with Anthony Wong in the Harrison Ford role and Yu Rong-Guang in the shoes of Tommy Lee Jones. Much less of a grand spectacle, director Jeffrey Chiang does keep suspense and pace at an above average rating and delivers an unexpectedly dark ending. Amy Kwok plays Anthony Wong's wife and John Ching the mastermind behind the framing of Wong's character. No dead wife or no one-armed man in this one therefore.

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KENNETH'S REVIEW: Yi-Cheng (Chin Han) and Chu-Ling's (Chen Chen) romance gets interrupted when Yi-Cheng, a medical student, finds out he has cancer. The struggle between social classes in the family's and the parents trying to make up the minds of the children gets put on eternal hold as all will have to learn the very human notions of appreciating real love around them. Especially so when Yi-Cheng flees to the countryside to kill himself. No surprise direction here as Laai Shing-Ying relies on fast zooms for his emotional reveals, quite often. But ultimately this soap opera still has good, noble thoughts that at least makes its escape from bottom of the barrel territory to barely basic. That's always something.

Behind the somewhat eccentric title (to Western ears only possibly) lies a stale gangster actioner that can't escape the tag of "been there, done that". In fact, it does the expected with only half dedication at best. Expected first to be a rise and fall story of two ordinary working men (Mark Cheng and Benny Lai's characters) joining the triads, they become supporting characters the more we get to know of Master Hwa's (Alex Man) financial troubles. All while his Japanese rival Kuyama (Ken Lo) tries to get rid of Hwa. The asskicking daughter of the piece is Yukari Oshima's Amy but there's little to cherish aside from director Fung Hak-On's eye for painful stunts and fights (in particular the last 15 minutes or so). Yukari is involved in a high class scrap at a gym while various hard encounters for the stuntmen with tables, glass and cars evokes that nostalgic time of watching these men and women get really messed up for the sake of action entertainment. Mark Cheng participating in quite a lot of the action too is admirable but narrative director Fung gets no mileage out of such intended dramatic core connections such as the one between Hwa and closest man Tung (Dick Wei). It's clichéd and easy territory to bring to the screen but nonetheless it's poorly executed. Fung Fung, Peter Yang, Tai Bo and Leung Kar-Yan also appear.

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