Review | Fatal Visit movie review: Sammi Cheng, Charlene Choi in mystery thriller based on acclaimed Hong Kong play Murder in San Jose
- Sammi Cheng plays Ling, a Hong Kong migrant to California whose marriage to a Chinese businessman is disturbed by the arrival of a former neighbour
- Flashbacks to a past relationship hint at the roots of Ling’s disturbed mental state in this adaptation of Candace Chong’s 2009 play Murder in San Jose
3/5 stars
Somehow, even the best Hong Kong stage plays do not usually make for good cinema. For every high-quality adaptation that preserves the spirit of a theatre production and makes good use of the cinematic form ( 29+1 ; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! ), there are several lamentable attempts which lose themselves in an avalanche of overacting and navel-gazing ( Shed Skin Papa , Till We Meet Again ).
Candace Chong Mui-ngam is arguably the top local playwright working today, but she’s not immune to insipid adaptations. After her excellent play French Kiss spawned the contrived movie Heaven in the Dark in 2016, the release of Fatal Visit – while a passable film – will leave the uninitiated wondering why its source material, 2009’s Murder in San Jose , was ever considered one of the great Hong Kong plays of the 21st century.
Despite being scripted by Port of Call ’s Philip Yung Tsz-kwong, this fourth feature directed by veteran lyricist and screenwriter Calvin Poon Yuen-leung ( Hi, Fidelity ) plays more like a B-movie thrillerthan the slow-burning study of alienation, jealousy and an American dream gone sour that Chong aimed for – not least thanks to a memorably berserk performance bySammi Cheng Sau-man.
Canto-pop superstar Cheng plays Ling, a Hong Kong native who has been living in a quiet suburb in San Jose, in California, for some time after she moved to the US in the mid-2000s. With a fragmented storyline that is more likely to create confusion than suspense, the film starts by showing us how Ling first met current husband Tang (Tong Dawei), now a failed Chinese businessman, while occasionally jumping back and forth in time to provide glimpses of a dark secret in their past.