Cutting edge of a kung fu caper

The Sword of Many Loves, with Leon Lai Ming, Michelle Reis, Sharla Cheung Man and Elvis Tsui Kam-kong. Directed by Poon Man-kit. Category II. Coming to the Golden Harvest-Washington and Queen's Theature circuits.

THE gangster drama is a dying genre in Hong Kong, having given way to a spate of period kung fu films.

And, with more and more film-makers drawing on fictional heroes and mythical figures, the novels of Louis Cha have become a popular source of inspiration.

Ever since Ching Siu-tung released The Duel a decade ago, it seems our screens have been crammed with Chinese Ghost Story and Dragon Inn lookalikes, but so ubiquitous are these films that movie makers must now be nearing the bottom of the barrel with their re-makes of re-makes.

But co-producers and co-scripters Johnny Mak and Stephen Shiu seldom tackle films the conventional way and in The Sword of Many Loves they turn Cha's swordplay novel (once a TVB series starring Ray Lui Leung-wai) into a Chinese Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Instead of adapting the book, the film-makers have taken considerable liberties with the source material and added a host of colloquial Cantonese jokes so explicit the preview version earned itself a Category III rating for profanity.

Golden Harvest has said, however, it will tone down the film for Ca tegory II consumption.