Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972)
(Ai nu)
Country: HK
Technical: col/2.35:1 97m
Director: Yuen Chor
Cast: Lily Ho, Hua Yueh, Betty Pei Ti, Lin Tung
Synopsis:
The respected Brothel of the Four Seasons secretly kidnaps and smuggles its girls via slave traders. One of them, to whom the madam takes a shine, is groomed to be a star attraction for local bandits and officials, but she resents having her maidenhead removed and succumbs to her employer's amorous advances as part of an elaborate plan of revenge.
Review:
Almost certainly the inspiration for Tarantino's O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill Vol.1, the Shaw Brothers' kung-fu sex classic freeze frames most of its sex before the action gets going, but shares the same colour scheme, snow-covered settings and revenge narrative. Far more interested in splatter than sex (or able to show a lot more anyway), it nevertheless delivers a frisson as Chun Yi tongues the weals on Ai Nu's back, and culminates in a blood-stained overwhelming odds finale that similarly brings us forward to O-Ren's restaurant. At any rate, it is a stylist's treat, with ravishing colour, loving close-ups and more shock zooms than you could possibly wish for. It also incongruously steals a Bernstein cue from On the Waterfront for one of its action scenes, evidence of the passion and irreverence of the Hong Kong film scene of that era.
(Ai nu)
Country: HK
Technical: col/2.35:1 97m
Director: Yuen Chor
Cast: Lily Ho, Hua Yueh, Betty Pei Ti, Lin Tung
Synopsis:
The respected Brothel of the Four Seasons secretly kidnaps and smuggles its girls via slave traders. One of them, to whom the madam takes a shine, is groomed to be a star attraction for local bandits and officials, but she resents having her maidenhead removed and succumbs to her employer's amorous advances as part of an elaborate plan of revenge.
Review:
Almost certainly the inspiration for Tarantino's O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill Vol.1, the Shaw Brothers' kung-fu sex classic freeze frames most of its sex before the action gets going, but shares the same colour scheme, snow-covered settings and revenge narrative. Far more interested in splatter than sex (or able to show a lot more anyway), it nevertheless delivers a frisson as Chun Yi tongues the weals on Ai Nu's back, and culminates in a blood-stained overwhelming odds finale that similarly brings us forward to O-Ren's restaurant. At any rate, it is a stylist's treat, with ravishing colour, loving close-ups and more shock zooms than you could possibly wish for. It also incongruously steals a Bernstein cue from On the Waterfront for one of its action scenes, evidence of the passion and irreverence of the Hong Kong film scene of that era.
(Ai nu)
Country: HK
Technical: col/2.35:1 97m
Director: Yuen Chor
Cast: Lily Ho, Hua Yueh, Betty Pei Ti, Lin Tung
Synopsis:
The respected Brothel of the Four Seasons secretly kidnaps and smuggles its girls via slave traders. One of them, to whom the madam takes a shine, is groomed to be a star attraction for local bandits and officials, but she resents having her maidenhead removed and succumbs to her employer's amorous advances as part of an elaborate plan of revenge.
Review:
Almost certainly the inspiration for Tarantino's O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill Vol.1, the Shaw Brothers' kung-fu sex classic freeze frames most of its sex before the action gets going, but shares the same colour scheme, snow-covered settings and revenge narrative. Far more interested in splatter than sex (or able to show a lot more anyway), it nevertheless delivers a frisson as Chun Yi tongues the weals on Ai Nu's back, and culminates in a blood-stained overwhelming odds finale that similarly brings us forward to O-Ren's restaurant. At any rate, it is a stylist's treat, with ravishing colour, loving close-ups and more shock zooms than you could possibly wish for. It also incongruously steals a Bernstein cue from On the Waterfront for one of its action scenes, evidence of the passion and irreverence of the Hong Kong film scene of that era.