Lan Kwai Fong 2

喜爱夜蒲2

Hong Kong, 2012, colour, 2.35:1, 99 mins.

Director: Qian Guowei 钱国伟 [Wilson Chin].

Rating: 6/10.

Glossy softcore fluff set in Hong Kong’s clubbing scene knows exactly what it is.

STORY

Hong Kong, Languifang [Lan Kwai Fong] district, the present day. Fashion photographer’s assistant Rain (Guan Chuyao) goes to the disco-bar Magnum with his professional clubbing friend Don (Shen Zhenxuan). There he meets rich playgirl Summer (Lian Shiya) and manages to get her phone number. One week later, they’re dating. Meanwhile, Don has accidentally swapped mobile phones with a woman called Siri (Liu Yuqi); using the name Dicky, he tries to meet her but she keeps stringing him along. During a police inspection of the club for IDs, DJ Maxim (Matsuoka Rina), who’s Japanese, again meets young local policeman Wen (Jiang Wenjie) and the two take a liking to each other. Rain takes a drunk Summer home and meets her wealthy father, Max (Deng Jianming). Avis (Chen Weicheng), chief assistant to partying businessman Hong (Jin Gang), takes another drunk clubber QQ (Chen Jingyi) to a hotel but just lets her sleep it off. Some time later, Summer moves into Rain’s tiny flat in the photo-studio where he works, but her father has cut off her credit card. At a pool party, Don finally meets Siri and discovers she’s up for a purely sexual relationship. Meanwhile, Summer is finding things tough without a bottomless credit card; and then a vindictive ex-boyfriend, Benjamin (Zhuang Dongxin), causes her and Rain more problems.

REVIEW

Just like the original 2011 film, but with a new set of characters, Lan Kwai Fong 2 喜爱夜蒲2 dishes up exactly what it says on the can: an hour-and-a-half of hedonistic clubbing, acres of t&a, lashings of softcore sex and industrial quantities of well-stacked models. However, with Hong Kong’s police never far away in the well-swept streets, it’s actually quite a chaste lark, without a single square centimetre of nudity or any guns and violence – a long way from the Category III movies it obliquely references. LKF2 ends up being more a cute romantic comedy than a light drama, and hard to dislike on its proudly fluffy, intensely local and only mildy guilt-ridden levels. Returning director Qian Guowei 钱国伟 [Wilson Chin] (Summer Love Love 恋夏恋夏恋恋下, 2011) and his team know even better what they’re doing second time round, and manage to sustain an almost plotless movie with plenty of characters and pure technique.

TVB actor Shen Zhenxuan 沈震轩 steals the male show as a blond-dyed professional clubber, with lower-key backup from Canadian-raised Cantopopster Guan Chuyao 关楚耀 [Kelvin Kwan] as his photographer pal. On the babe side, top-billed singer-actress Lian Shiya 连诗雅 – also in the first film but here playing a spoilt rich girl – manages the not inconsiderable task of distinguishing herself from the lorryloads of other long-legged models, with Japanese model Matsuoka Rina 松岡李那 running her a close second as a Cantonese-speaking DJ who falls for a policeman. The almost continuous song/music track and parade of guest spots by local names and semi-names keep things bubbling along, and the glossy photography and slick editing complete a thoroughly professional package. Though Languifang [Lan Kwai Fong] district is also a notable hangout for foreigners, there are almost none in the entire movie.

CREDITS

Presented by Mei Ah Film Production (HK), Local Production (HK). Produced by Local Production (HK).

Script: Hu Yaohui [Mark Wu], Lin Feng. Photography: Chen Chuqiang. Editing: Xu Weijie [Matthew Hui]. Music direction: Wu Lecheng [Ronald Ng]. Art direction: Tan Lishan. Costume design: Zhang Xuerun. Sound: Tan Derong, Li Zhixiong. Second unit photography: Dong Weiqiang.

Cast: Lian Shiya (Summer), Guan Chuyao [Kelvin Kwan] (Rain), Shen Zhenxuan (Don/Dicky), Liu Yuqi (Siri), Chen Weicheng (Avis), Chen Jingyi (QQ), Matsuoka Rina (Maxim, nightclub DJ), He Haowen (Hui), Zhuo Yunzhi [Vincci Cheuk] (Winnie), Luo Liwei (Rong), Zhuang Dongxin (Benjamin), Jiang Wenjie (Wen, policeman), Chen Xiyi (Seta), Fang Jiayou (Jojo), Chen Wanwei (Linda), Zhang Nuanya (Angelina), Wen Kailing (Connie), Jin Gang [King Kong] (Hong, Avis’ boss), Deng Jianming (Max, Summer’s father), EJ [Che Eun-jin] (Korean super-model), Zhou Liqi [Niki Chow] (Niki), Gu Juji [Leo Ku] (taxi driver), Fang Lishen [Alex Fong Lik-sun] (unlucky nightclub queuer), Su Yongkang [William So] (Gong, star in photo-shoot), Sun Yaowei [Eric Suen] (CK, photo-studio boss), Hong Tianming (Korean “boy”), Zhuang Simin (Jacqueline), Wang Zongyao, Lin Shengbin, Fan Zhenfeng, Yu Diwei, Zhang Xuerun, Qian Guowei [Wilson Chin].

Release: Hong Kong, 23 Aug 2012.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 21 Dec 2012.)