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Paul Fonoroff

COMRADE Cheng is not unlike a house guest who has overstayed her welcome. The first Her Fatal Ways, back in 1990, was a landmark Hong Kong film, a rare political satire which hilariously examined the clash of cultures that occurred when a headstrong cadre came face to face with the bourgeois liberalism of the Crown Colony.

   Parts II and III, while lacking the power of their predecessor, were still enjoyable, primarily for Dodo Cheng Yue-ling's spot-on portrayal of the dogmatic-yet-endearing adherent of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought.

  Her Fatal Ways 1V is another story. Cheng has forsaken the Party to become a Hong Kong emigrant.

   Director Alfred Cheung Kin-ting focuses on her attempts to become more ''Hong Kongish'' than the natives by pursuing a career in business and romancing a foreigner.

 But removing the cadre from her official post leaves her with non raison d'etre ; her adventures are no longer grounded in the premise that lent them meaning and interest.

  Instead of sharp comedy with political bite, we are treated to a series of skits that reduce Cheng and her country bumpkin nephew (Alfred Cheung) to a Chinese version of the Beverly Hillbillies, minus the laughs.

   Most of it is downright silly - Cheng's attempts to imitate cinematic ''slow motion'' while employed as a movie extra; or her exaggerated walk when trying out for a job as a fashion model.

   It simply doesn't make sense in light of the comrade's character in Parts I, II, and III - Cheng might have been thick-skinned, but she certainly wasn't a fool. And there are her English lessons and stabs at eating French food. Didn't she already learn these things four years ago?   Wit is replaced by a total lack of subtlety. When Cheng is interrogated by policemen, for instance, she crosses and re-crosses her legs a la Sharon Stone style in Basic Instinct.

  And just in case anybody in the audience doesn't get the ''joke'', Cheng then explains to the incredulous cops that she is imitating Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.

  The plot is hard to swallow. High-ranking Hong Kong police officers have dreamed up a conspiracy involving the deflowering of Cheng and her cousin (Sandra Ng Kwun-yue) in order to gain influence with their powerful relatives in Xinhua and the People's Liberation Army.

   It doesn't make too much sense, and it isn't very funny. But it does provide one of the few cases of inter-racial romance in Hong Kong movies, handled very sympathetically by the bilingual Gregory Charles (who acts under the Chinese name of Ho Kwok-wing).

  Her Fatal Ways IV occasionally shows some sparks that do its predecessors proud. Cheng's uncle is a high-ranking Xinhua official - and a dead ringer for Zhou Nan.

  When debating who is responsible for the kidnapping of Sandra Ng, who is a general's daughter, he states that it couldn't be the Liberal Party because they're incapable of formulating any kind of policy too far in advance; as for the United Democrats, he dismisses the possibility. After all, he confides: ''They're patriotic and non-violent.''   Alas, it would take a lot more than these few sparks to ignite this leaden sequel. It's time for ex-cadre Cheng to either rejoin the Party or retire from the movies.

  First Date was originally scheduled for its Hong Kong debut in December 1990, but its release was suddenly cancelled due to disagreements between the distributor and the film-maker (according to a spokesperson from distributor Sil-Metropole).

  Well, the dispute has been settled and First Date has finally bowed at Cine-Art. The following is the review I wrote 31/2 years ago, before the movie was pulled from its initial circulation.

  With the collapse of the commercial Taiwanese film industry in the early 80s, a so-called New Wave emerged. These directors created a body of low budget, very personal works, the majority of which focused upon growing up in Taiwan in the 50s and 60s.

  Somewhat belatedly, Chinese-American film-maker Peter Wang (A Great Wall) joins the fold with First Date, a nostalgic look at high school students in Taiwan some three decades ago.

  The title is something of a misnomer. While the story details the efforts of its protagonist, Yang Jia-luo (Chang Shi), to date his dream girl, and loses his virginity - though not necessarily in that order - this theme takes a back seat to the relationship between Yang and his teacher, Liu (Shih Chun). Liu is an ideal educator, one who sees through Yang's lackadaisical attitude to his schoolwork and recognises a budding writer.

  Writer-director Peter Wang (who also plays Yang's father) would have had better results had he concentrated on one theme or the other. He further weakens the film's overall impact by burdening the straight-forward narrative with some very clumsy fantasy sequences.

   Still, First Date also contains a number of quiet pleasures, not the least of which is an extremely capable young cast and the manner in which the picture wistfully evokes a bygone era.



Go back to base, Comrade Cheng