What To Stream: Life Is Cheap … But Toilet Paper is Expensive 命賤 (1989)
We picked the best movies and TV shows about HK, made in HK or by HK filmmakers, to stream right now, so you don’t have to be overwhelmed by all streaming services.
Life Is Cheap … But Toilet Paper is Expensive 命賤
A film by Wayne Wang 王穎
United States | 1989 | 1hr 24min | Color | English, Cantonese | Subtitled
Filming Location: Hong Kong
Exploding a seemingly simple premise—a nameless “cowboy” courier (Spencer Nakasako) arrives in Hong Kong to deliver a mysterious briefcase to a mercurial mob boss and becomes entangled with his femme fatale mistress (Cora Miao)—this long-unavailable triumph from Wayne Wang barrels through inspired genre deconstruction, guerrilla docu-fiction, and fierce political jeremiad, all with a keen sense of humor and a rich visual palette. Tracking the courier’s increasingly byzantine mission across every level of the city’s social strata, Wang introduces us to cabdrivers, hustlers, butchers, and more—each punctuating the high-octane neo-noir narrative with instantly memorable monologues that capture a now-distant era in Hong Kong history.
一個美國日裔牛仔受聘來到後八九過渡期的香港，目標是要把神秘文件箱送遞到社團大佬之手。陌生的過客在這個光怪陸離的都市，迷失了方向，遇上大佬的情人（繆騫人飾）就陷入更多麻煩。導演王穎是美籍華人，在香港土生土長。《命賤》除了是王穎少有在香港拍攝的電影，亦是他風格的一大突破。黑色電影的手法、超越尺度的題材及大膽的實驗電影元素，加上羅維、羅烈、鄭君綿、方育平、陳冠中和周啟邦夫婦客串演出，都為這部「港產」奇葩添上邪典色彩。
About the Director
With his 1982 indie breakthrough, CHAN IS MISSING—a noir-inflected comic mystery set in San Francisco’s Chinatown—Wayne Wang became the first Asian American director to achieve widespread critical recognition, paving the way for a pioneering and eclectic career that helped introduce Chinese American stories to mainstream cinema. Exploring issues of assimilation, identity, and generational conflict, this trio of playful, insightful films from Wang’s extraordinary 1980s output overflow with both tender humor and deep emotion, drawing on influences ranging from the French New Wave and Yasujiro Ozu to old-fashioned Hollywood musicals and romantic comedies in order to capture a wide variety of immigrant experiences.
導演介紹
王穎（1949年生於香港），在美國奧克蘭加洲工藝美術學院畢業，修讀電影及電視課程。七十年代曾短暫回港在香港電台工作，後返回三藩市灣區居住。他曾在唐人街教英語，見證當地社區的轉變。這些生活體驗對其首部劇情長片《尋人》（1982）影響至深，而這部低成本獨立電影亦在當年大獲好評。他在九十年代躋身荷里活，這段時期的代表作包括《喜福會》（1993）和《生命中不能承受的煙》（1995）。近年王穎重拾獨立製作，集中拍攝個人故事，近作包括《回味》（2019）。
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