Chili Laugh Story

阖家辣

Hong Kong, 2022, colour, 2.35:1, 91 mins.

Director: Zheng Jinxuan 郑晋轩 [Coba Cheng].

Rating: 5/10.

Hong Kong family comedy, set during lockdown, passes the time but is poorly developed at a script level.

STORY

Hong Kong, 30 Jun 2020. Due to the Covid lockdown, the whole Zhang family are trapped in their flat: unemployed father Zhang Guolun (Zheng Zhongji) lounges around watching TV all day, mother Chen Meizhen (Liang Yongqi) makes Chaozhou-style chili garlic sauce in the kitchen, and 23-year-old son Zhang Baixuan (Lv Jue’an) hides in his room trying to work online and quietly going up the wall. Chen Meizhen’s dream is to actually buy a new flat, rather than rent the old one they’re in. A week later, while snacking with his old school friends Li (He Qihua) and Xi (Lin Jiaxi), Zhang Baixuan realises how good his mother’s fiery chili garlic sauce actually is. (His first experience of it was at the tender age of five, during a trip to the Mainland in Aug 2002 to visit his mother’s relatives in Chaozhou city, Guangdong province.) He has the idea of bottling and selling it online during the Covid pandemic, under the hip name Chiu Chiu Chiu, and recruits the whole family to help, with occasional advice from his father’s eccentric elder sister Zhang Huiyi (Wu Junru), who’s been almost deserted by her only son (Hu Zitong) in favour of his family and career. Though the family still squabbles a lot, the enterprise booms and gives them all a sense of purpose, and they’re delighted when the Covid restrictions continue. A year later, in May, Zhang Baixuan is invited to meet entrepreneur Arnold (Wu Jialong), with whom he unwillingly signs a lucrative partnership contract. Much to Zhang Baixuan’s annoyance, Arnold puts the sauce out under his own SugarMama brand. That October, Zhang Huiyi is suddenly told by her son that he, his wife and young daughter are moving to the UK. It’s a further blow to the lonely Zhang Huiyi. But as the SugarMama contract takes effect, she and the whole Zhang family pull together to make it a success. And Zhang Baixuan has a surprise for his mother.

REVIEW

A Hong Kong family comedy that marks the debut of writer-director Zheng Jinxuan 郑晋轩 [Coba Cheng], Chili Laugh Story 阖家辣 passes the time but not much more, playing like an extended sketch for a more substantial movie. Along with another local family comedy, Table for Six 饭戏攻心, it was originally intended as a CNY release on 1 Feb 2022 but was then moved to the summer due to Hong Kong’s cinema closure from early January to late April 2022 due to Covid. Strongly cast but weakly developed, it’s based on the lockdown experiences of Zheng himself, who even gives the young hero the same English name, Coba. But the film touched only a moderate nerve among local audiences, taking less than half (HK$33 million) of Table for Six’s gross (HK$77 million), making it the fifth highest local earner in a very lean and abbreviated year for Hong Kong cinema.

Zheng, 31, had been working on the fringes of the media industry when he met by chance actress/producer Wu Junru 吴君如 [Sandra Ng] and her film-maker husband Chen Kexin 陈可辛 [Peter Chan], to whom he told his own story. Wu and Chen thought it would make a movie, brought in the experienced Zou Kaiguang 邹凯光 [Matt Chow] to co-write the script, and gave Zheng a crash course in film-making. Zheng reckons the finished film is about 60-70% true to his own experience during the pandemic, reshaped into a typically upbeat, triumph-out-of-adversity Hong Kong story that, to its credit, hardly mentions Covid at all.

The plot itself is perilously thin: trapped at home with his parents during lockdown, and slowly going crazy, a 20-something Hong Konger has the idea of selling his mum’s homemade Chaozhou-style chili garlic sauce online, as a hip product. The whole family joins in the enterprise, which eventually is a success. That’s it. Zheng and co-writer Zou, who directed Wu in the bawdy comedies Golden Chickensss 金鸡SSS (2014) and 12 Golden Ducks 12金鸭 (2015), have come up with plenty of decoration to the basic idea – from toilet/sex jokes to cameo appearances – but very little actual development of the story or characters. The most substantial addition is Wu herself playing the father’s eccentric, if rather sad, elder sister – a role that Wu brings her usual comic energy to but one which actually has very little to do with the central plot. At one point it looks like the role of the young hero’s air-hostess girlfriend (nicely played by Yuan Lilin 袁澧林, 29) will develop into something, but she’s later tossed aside.

Zheng Zhongji 郑中基 [Ronald Cheng] also brings his trademark manic persona to the role of the father, and it’s nice to see actress Liang Yongqi 梁咏琪 [Gigi Leung] on screen again after playing the younger sister in guide-dog drama Little Q 小Q (2019). Liang, now 47 but still looking not a day over 35, has been a rarity on-screen during the past decade; but she’s not as well cast here as in Little Q, her delicate, restrained style out of kilter with the film’s extrovert nature. In his big-screen debut as the entrepreneurial son, Lv Jue’an 吕爵安, 26, from Cantopop boy group Mirror, holds his own against the seasoned players and with more personality than most pretty boygroupers.

However, the three main characters hardly develop as the story winds on. Instead, the writers throw in every distraction they can think of, including comic cameos from the likes of Wu Jialong 吴嘉龙 [Carl Ng] as an English-speaking businessman to Gu Tianle 古天乐 [Louis Koo] and (weirdest of all) Huang Debin 黄德斌 [Kenny Wong] at the end. The end-title extras just seem to go on and on, which isn’t new for a Hong Kong comedy but does underline the movie’s determinedly local flavour.

The technical side is fine, with modest but good-looking photography by Guan Zhiyao 关智耀 [Jason Kwan], smooth cutting by a trio of editors including the experienced Peng Zhengxi 彭正熙 [Curran Pang] and Zhong Weizhao 钟炜钊 [Azrael Chung], and music supervised by veteran Luo Jian 罗坚 [Lincoln Lo]. Following its delay in release, the story is updated to Mar 2022 with a brief joke about phone alerts. The film’s Chinese title is a clever pun on the name of the well-known Hong Kong fast-food chain 大家乐, replacing 大家 dàjiā (“everyone”) with 阖家 héjiā (“the whole family”) and 乐 lè (“happy”) with 辣 là (“spicy”). The English title attempts a parallel pun with “Laugh” instead of “Love”.

CREDITS

Presented by Treasure Island Production (HK), One Cool Film Production (HK), Media Asia Film Production (HK), Film Development Fund (HK). Produced by WFH Productions (HK).

Script: Zheng Jinxuan [Coba Cheng], Zou Kaiguang [Matt Chow]. Photography: Guan Zhiyao [Jason Kwan], Gu Weilin. Editing: Peng Zhengxi [Curran Pang], Hu Shanhang, Zhong Weizhao [Azrael Chung]. Music supervision: Luo Jian [Lincoln Lo]. Theme song: Wu Linfeng (music), Huang Zhaoming (arrangement), Huang Weiwen [Wyman Wong] (lyrics), Liang Yongqi [Gigi Leung], Lv Jue’an, Wu Junru [Sandra Ng] (vocal). Art direction: Li Zifeng. Costume design: Ouyang Xia [Connie Auyeung]. Sound: Chen Zhijian, Zheng Minghui, Yang Zhichao, Tan Jinghua. Visual effects: Yang Minjie. Action: Deng Ruihua. Creative advice: Chen Jiayi.

Cast: Zheng Zhongji [Ronald Cheng] (Zhang Guolun/Alan), Liang Yongqi [Gigi Leung] (Chen Meizhen/Rita), Lv Jue’an (Zhang Baixuan/Coba), Wu Junru [Sandra Ng] (Zhang Huiyi/Wendy, Zhang Guolun’s elder sister), Hu Zitong (Zhang Huiyi’s son), Yuan Lilin (Li Jiahui/Sam, Zhang Baixuan’s girlfriend), Lu Haipeng (hot-dog shop owner), He Qihua (Li, Zhang Baixuan’s school friend), Lin Jiaxi (Xi, Zhang Baixuan’s school friend), Wu Jialong [Carl Ng] (Arnold), Tan Yuying (Chen Meizhen’s elder sister), Tang Jiankang (Nan, Chen Meizen’s elder brother), Huang Yongshi (jar shop owner), Yang Weilun (parcel courier), Yao Leyi (household-goods shop assistant), Chen Yingxin (Daisy, Arnold’s secretary), Zhu Jianran (boss), Liang Ye, Wu Baoqi, Guo Jiajun, Xu Xian, Su Zhihao (hot-dog shop youngsters), Gu Tianle [Louis Koo] (Sun), Huang Debin [Kenny Wong] (KK, man in toilet), Liao Ailing (grandmother), Sun Lejin (young Zhang Baixuan), Zhang Guolian (grandfather), Li Ruiguo (grandfather’s brother), Zheng Jinxuan [Coba Cheng] (interviewer), Ouyang Youqi (young Zhang Baixuan), Du Liyun (school-uniform shop owner), Qiu Songwei (property agent), Cai Yingtong (Zhang Huiyi’s daughter-in-law), Lin Jing (Tongtong, Zhang Huiyi’s niece), Zou Kaiguang [Matt Chow] (customer in household-goods shop).

Release: Hong Kong, 14 Jul 2022.