The Empty Hands

空手道

Hong Kong, 2017, colour/b&w, 2.35:1, 85 mins.

Director: Du Wenze 杜汶泽 [Chapman To].

Rating: 7/10.

Hong Kong actress Deng Lixin [Stephy Tang] is a revelation in this second directing stint by actor Du Wenze [Chapman To].

STORY

Wanzai [Wan Chai] district, Hong Kong, Oct 2016. Hirakawa Akira (Kurata Yasuaki), the Japanese father of Japanese-Chinese Hirakawa Mari (Deng Lixin), is found dead in his flat-cum-dojo by his longtime assistant Mute Dog (Ou Jintang). He had come to Hong Kong in 1972, after being transferred there by his employers, and had married a local Chinese woman, He Limei. In the evenings he had taught his first love, karate. In 1989, after he’d refused to lend his wife’s brother some money and the latter had committed suicide, He Limei had left him. Without a mother, Hirakawa Mari had withdrawn into herself, her only friend being another teenage girl, the big-breasted Peggy (Chen Jing). Her father had earlier insisted on teaching her karate and by the age of 10 she had a brown belt; but later, after a disagreement with him, she had stopped training. She had finally got a job, as a security guard, and met radio DJ Feng Jiajun (Liu Junjiang), with whom she fell in love. Though still living with her father in their flat-cum-dojo, she had become more and more distanced from him by the time of his death. Now, with the dojo having only a few child pupils, Hirakawa Mari plans to close the school and convert the whole flat into tiny units for rent. However, she then discovers that her father had willed only 49% of the property to her, with 51% going to Chen Qiang (Du Wenze), a former pupil whom he’d kicked out for unruly behaviour but who later, while working for an underworld figure, had helped an under-age girl escape his clutches. After serving a jail sentence, he’s now a reformed character. He moves into the flat alonsgide Hirakawa Mari, and keeps the dojo going with Mute Dog’s help. She strongly objects, so he proposes a special wager.

REVIEW

After an iffy debut as a director with Malaysian foodie comedy Let’s Eat! 开饭啦! (2016), Hong Kong comedian Du Wenze 杜汶泽 [Chapman To] has a second go behind the camera with The Empty Hands 空手道, a lowkey but way more impressive drama set in his native territory that benefits from a surprisingly impressive performance by local actress Deng Lixin 邓丽欣 [Stephy Tang]. Centred on a young Japanese-Chinese woman, Hirakawa Mari, who gradually finds some meaning to her life after the death of her domineering father, it doesn’t grandstand its themes in an obvious way and makes a virtue of its modest resources via careful direction that mostly avoids artiness for its own sake. It bodes well for further outings behind the camera by Du, 45, who also produces here as well as taking a main role.

The Chinese and English titles are a literal translation of the Japanese term for karate, a personal interest of Du’s and here used both as a symbol of Hirakawa Mari’s late Japanese father’s dominance (he taught the sport in his spare time and made her learn it as a child) as well as the source of her later escape from his shadow. B&w flashbacks sketch her background as a young girl, her loneliness after her Chinese mother walks out, and her aimless teenage years when she abandoned karate and her only friend was a big-breasted, fun-loving friend (busty Hong Kong actress-model Chen Jing 陈静, the wannabe starlet in Vulgaria 低俗喜剧, 2012, in which Du starred). Finally getting a job, she first falls for a smooth radio DJ who offers no escape from her emotional dilemma and then finds her father left 51% of the flat-cum-dojo to a reformed criminal, Chen Qiang (played by Du himself), who was once her father’s pupil. The film then looks like becoming an odd-couple riff as she’s forced to share the premises with him. Instead, Chen Qiang challenges her to confront her earlier rejection of martial arts and get her life back into gear.

It’s one of several unexpected switches in the script – co-authored by Hong Kong scripter/novelist Li Min 李敏 [Erica Li], a variable collaborator with genre director Qiu Litao 邱礼涛 [Herman Yau] – that keep the film fresh and the audience on its toes. Just as the film downplays Hirakawa Mari’s mixed parentage, so it goes lightly on the training sequences as she gets back into shape to meet Chen Qiang’s challenge to be an MMA fighter. There are no pumped-up, gung-ho montages, and her preliminary fight versus a determined opponent is more realistic than inspiring, with Deng utterly convincing as she takes a pounding in the ring. The ending also avoids the obvious: Hirakawa Mari is still alone but she’s at least found a purpose in life.

Singer-actress Deng, 34, has had a busy career during the past 15 years (over 40 movies) without carving much of an identity beyond fluffy roles in commercial quickies. In Empty Hands she’s a revelation, blending anger, aimlessness, tenderness and determination without slipping into Hong Kong stereotypes. Occasionally the script overdoes its demands – such as a solo scene where she rails against her late father’s domination – but her generally lowkey approach pays dividends once the film gets to its nub almost an hour in. Du also makes the most of a similar approach (with flecks of his typically dry humour) and there’s solid support from both Hong Kong’s favourite Japanese martial artist, veteran Kurata Yasuaki 仓田保昭, as the taciturn father, and Ou Jintang 欧锦棠 as his loyal, mute assistant. Some veteran names pop up in cameos but don’t disturb the film’s overall arc: actress Lu Mixue 卢觅雪 [Michelle Lo] as an employer, director Liang Baijian 梁柏坚 [Patrick Leung] as a drunk, and actor Situ Huizhuo 司徒慧焯 [Roy Szeto] as an underworld sidekick.

As a director, Du sometimes over-reaches himself – too much use of classical music for significance (especially a German Lied for Hirakawa Mari’s betrayal by her lover) and an over-arty underworld flashback – but comes up with a professional package from his no-name crew, with a cool, nicely composed visual style and unshowy cutting. D.p. Tan Yunjia 谭运佳 worked on Naked Ambition 2 豪情2 (2014), in which Du starred, as well as L for Love, L for Lies Too 失恋日 (2016), an iffy Deng vehicle, while editor Liang Zhanlun 梁展纶 has worked alongside regular Du Qifeng 杜琪峰 [Johnnie To] cutter David Richardson during the past decade. The Empty Hands doesn’t move mountains but it’s always engaging and rarely self-indulgent, which can’t always be said when comedians turn director.

CREDITS

Presented by HK Film Production (HK). Produced by HK Film Production (HK).

Script: Du Wenze [Chapman To], Li Min [Erica Li]. Photography: Tan Yunjia. Editing: Liang Zhanlun. Music: Li Duanxian. Art direction: Zhang Wen. Costume design: Zhang Wen. Sound: Lian Wenming. Action: Du Wenze [Chapman To], Ou Jintang, Liang Bo’en, Huang Weiliang [Jack Wong], Ishijima Ryuichi, Lei Dewei.

Cast: Deng Lixin [Stephy Tang] (Hirakawa Mari), Du Wenze [Chapman To] (Chen Qiang/Kent), Kurata Yasuaki (Hirakawa Akira), Ou Jintang (Ya Gou/Mute Dog), Chen Jing (Peggy), Liu Junjiang (Feng Jiajun/Calvin), Lu Mixue [Michelle Lo] (Laohugou/Bulldog), Zhou Zhihui (underworld boss), Situ Huizhuo [Roy Szeto] (Situ, underworld boss’ sidekick), Chen Shuzhuang (solicitor), Jiang Weizhong (Jiang, xinji master), Liang Baijian [Patrick Leung] (drunk in park), Yang Liuqing (Feng Jiajun’s wife), He Ciyin (Charlene), Lei Dewei, Ishijima Ryuichi (bodyguards), Zeng Shuya (Chen Qiang’s wife), Cai Jiayan (preliminary opponent), Chen Yuyun (final opponent), Xiang Bairong (preliminary referee), Li Yiyi (young Hirakawa Mari), He Ying (teenage Hirakawa Mari, aged 15), Xuan Jiayi (teenage Peggy, aged 15).

Premiere: Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (Gala Presentation), 1 Nov 2017.

Release: Hong Kong, 2 Nov 2017.