An
Inspector Calls (2015)
Country: Hong Kong
Category: IIA (Cantonese)
Starring: Louis Koo Tin-lok, Eric Tsang
Chi-wai, Teresa Mo Shun-kwan, Chrissie Chau Sau-Na
Directors: Raymond Wong Pak-min, Herman Yau
Lai-to
An Inspector Calls (浮華宴) is an
2015 Hong Kong black comedy film. The story is based on the British play An Inspector Calls. It is star-studded,
cameo-filled and visually outrageous.
Raymond Wong Pak-min, the director, tries to
bring something different. This film breaks the usual frame of New Year films
of just being funny comedy. Instead, it comes with black humor. This story is
about a notable family that receives an unexpected visit from an inspector at
their lavish party to celebrate a couple’s engagement. Their joy turns gloomy
when they find out that the inspector is there to investigate the suicide of a
pregnant girl, whom the family members claim to have no relationship with.
The scenario of the film is meaningful as it
reflects the criticism of the relationship between upper class and lower class
people. "It will not only entertain the audience, but make them think as
well," said Eric Tsang. Every dialogues has its implied meaning. And it pretty
well reflects the dark side of human nature. Like Chrissie Chau’s role, it is
the representative of lower people being oppressed in the society. While Teresa
No, Eric Tsang, Gordon Lam and six other characters, representing the seven deadly
sins of wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.
It is obvious that producers put lots of
hard work to dramatize some parts of the story to make it more expressive. Many
scenes are added to make the film more interesting and lend more depth to each
character. There are gorgeous CG effects, and stunning props creating a sumptuous
and exaggerating effect.
For the genre study of this film. In my
opinion, there is no definite genre for this film. It does not purely belong to
the genre of comedies. Genre study examines fixed textual structure both
semiotic and narrative, and its association with structure of society. According
to Daniel Chandler (2000), “The classification and hierarchical taxonomy of
genres is not a neutral and ‘objective’ procedure. There are no undisputed ‘maps’
of the system of genres within any medium.” This film is rather a mix of
detective, drama and comedy.
To conclude, this film focuses on the
discussion of humanity, it is very challenging to strike a balance between
comedy and heavy social matter. People may think it is a bit less advantaged to
be aired in New Year’s period as audiences may not expect a serious issue. But
I think it is a good try and more new topics of films should be welcomed and
supported.
Reference
Chandler,
D. (1997). An introduction to genre theory. Media and Communication Studies: http://www. aber. ac.
uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre1. html.
written by Chan Hong Yee 10592128/21425935
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