Lang Tong

靓汤

Singapore, 2014, colour, 16:9, 81 mins. (international version).

Director: Luo Sheng 罗胜 [Sam Loh].

Rating: 4/10.

Erotic-foodie thriller remains shackled by a poor script and amateur dialogue.

STORY

Singapore, the present day. Serial womaniser Zack (Liu Junhong) and online chat friend Stephanie (Wu Qiuyi) finally meet on a date, and go to a pork-rib soup restaurant recommended by her. She says she was raised by her elder sister until she was 21, at which time her sister suddenly disappeared. Stephanie says she works as a children’s tutor; Zack says he works in insurance. They immediately start a relationship, which seems to go ideally; one day, however, Zack says he has money problems, borrows S$20,000 from her, and disappears. One night Stephanie catches him having sex with another woman (Kuang Xueqi) in his car; she confronts him but he shrugs her off. Some time later, Zack is living with a new girlfriend, Li Ling (Zeng Weiyun), who cooks tasty pork-rib soup for him. Her younger sister, Li Er (Ye Siling), also shares the same flat, and she and Zack have sex whenever Li Ling is out. One night, Zack tells Li Ling he needs S$50,000 and she agrees to give it to him next morning; she also tells him she’s willed all her assets to him and Li Er. That night, Zack watches as Li Er makes love to a woman (Elizabeth T) she’s brought back. Next morning, while having sex after Li Ling has left for work, Li Er asks Zack to kill her sister, whom she still holds responsible for driving their mother (Wang Yuxiang) to suicide. Zack unburdens his problems to his best friend, Mike (Chen Yiming), who says he can procure some poison for him. Back at the flat, Li Ling tells Zack she knows about his relationship with Li Er but realises it’s only sex. Next morning, Li Er recommends they poison Li Ling during her birthday dinner in two days’ time.

REVIEW

Though writer-director-producer Luo Sheng 罗胜 [Sam Loh] deserves kudos for trying to break the conservative mould of Singapore film with this “first erotic thriller”, the truth is that Lang Tong 靓汤 isn’t really much good. Centred on a serial womaniser who finally meets his match, the film delivers a reasonable amount of sex (with some toplessness), a light sprinkling of lesbianism, and a plot that’s rife with seduction, betrayal and murder – all of which push the envelope of the island’s heavily monitored cinema. But the plot only starts to develop some interesting wrinkles in its final 10 minutes, when Luo taps into his roots as a trash-horror indie director. Until then, the film aims at being a sophisticated erotic-foodie thriller but falls short thanks to often laughably amateur dialogue and weak plotting.

Luo, 47, has long experience in TV and previously directed the self-financed youth/serial-killer drama Outsiders 外人 (2004), unreleased in Singapore due to censorship issues. Performances in Lang Tong range from functional to okay; the only one that rises above the material is by actress-presenter Zeng Weiyun 曾惟芸 [Vivienne Tseng], 27, who shows the necessary touch of class and mystery as the hero’s latest lover. As her younger nymphette sister, former beauty queen Ye Siling 叶思伶 [Angeline Yap], also 27, garnered most of the film’s local publicity but is flat and uninteresting, as well as looking older. In the lead role, actor-model Liu Junhong 刘峻宏 [William Lawandi] starts OK but remains shackled by the screenplay. Most performances are revoiced (unnoticeably) by native Mandarin speakers.

The film only comes into its own in occasional slick montages, where the atmospheric score by Cen Shiting 岑诗婷 [Christine Sham] and polished photography by Zhou Wenxiang 周文祥 hint at the movie Lang Tong wants to be. The title is Cantonese for “nice soup”, referring to the hero’s propensity for pork-rib soup. But despite several cooking sequences, the erotic/murderous connection isn’t woven into the script as deeply as in similar thrillers like Dumplings 饺子 (2004), Deadly Delicious 双食记 (2008) or even The Untold Story 八仙饭店之人肉叉烧包 (1993).

Shot in two weeks for a reported S$500,000, the film consistently looks good; hopefully, Luo will pay more attention to the script in the next two movies of his planned trilogy. Version reviewed is the “international” one premiered at the Singapore Film Festival. For local release, a three-minute lesbian sequence featuring Ye was cut, despite being tame by international standards.

CREDITS

Presented by MM2 Entertainment (SG), Outsider Pictures (SG). Produced by Outsider Pictures (SG).

Script: Su Chengyi [Alex Soh], Luo Sheng [Sam Loh]. Photography: Zhou Wenxiang. Editing: Dai Huiqing. Music: Cen Shiting [Christine Sham]. Art direction: uncredited. Costume design: uncredited. Sound effects: Sato Kazuo [Kazz Sato].

Cast: Liu Junhong [William Lawandi] (Zack), Wu Qiuyi [Esther Goh] (Stephanie), Zeng Weiyun [Vivienne Tseng] (Li Ling), Ye Siling [Angeline Yap] (Li Er), Chen Yiming [Alan Tan] (Mike), Elizabeth T (Li Er’s girlfriend), Feng Tuishou [Sunny Pang] (Li Er’s new boyfriend), Kuang Xueqi [Cynthia Kuang] (Zack’s new girlfriend), Peng Limin [Adeline Pang] (Zack’s girlfriend in car), Chi Subao [Vincent Tee] (father), Wang Yuxiang [Tracer Wong] (mother), Cen Shiting [Christine Sham] (diner), Sato Kazuo [Kazz Sato] (butcher).

Premiere: Singapore Film Festival (Singapore Panorama), 13 Dec 2014.

Release: Singapore, 5 Mar 2015.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 9 May 2015.)