There must be something in the air now that Hong Kong people have cast aside their protective face masks. Sex has suddenly become a hot topic for local filmmakers but not in a furtive, Category III kind of way.
The current crop of saucy comedies are witty and modern and aimed at fans of Sex And The City rather than conn- oisseurs of Japanese porn. No doubt last year's hit comedy Golden Chicken - which cleverly told the history of Hong Kong through the eyes of an eccentric prostitute - has been a major inspiration.
Earlier this summer we had Good Times, Bed Times, a sex farce about the relationship between an impotent policeman (played by Louis Koo Tin-lok) and a tabloid hack (Sammi Cheng Sau-man) who is sent to investigate him.
Also testing the bed springs in the same movie were Lau Ching-wan as a licentious judge and Charlene Choi Tsoek-jin as the teenage Lolita who tempts him.
Directed by Chan Hing-ka (La Brassiere, Mighty Baby), the film was daring but aimed at women, not dirty old men. It escaped a Category III rating in Hong Kong but not surprisingly was snipped by the censors in strait-laced Singapore.
Currently on release is another comedy with risque subject matter, Mei Ah Entertainment's Men Suddenly In Black, starring Eric Tsang Chi-wai, Jordan Chan Siu-chun and Chapman To Man-chak.
Directed by Edmond Pang Ho-cheung - a novelist- turned-director who wrote the book that Johnnie To Kei-fung's Fulltime Killer was based on - the film is about a group of men who set off on a marathon 14-hour brothel visit when their wives go on a trip to Thailand. Billed as more than just a sexy romp, the film mixes romance, action, parody and black humour.