Viva Erotica spins web of sex and art
Viva Erotica spins a web of sex & art
by Ann RivinusViva Erotica is definitely a filmmaker’s film. The movie follows Cheung (Kwok Wing Leslie), a young film director, as he struggles to make his living and preserve some of his artistic integrity in the Hong Kong film industry. His last two films have been box office flops, and after a two year vacation in the land of the unemployed a friend of his calls him with a movie offer.
The only problem with the offer is that he will be directing a piece of soft porn brain candy. Cheung considers himself an artist, but with the helpful prodding of his “male provider” pride, he takes the job.
Swords are drawn and the stage is set for the age old battle between artistic integrity and money. With Cheung’s employment record, however, it is no wonder that money makes its way to the winner’s circle this time.
Once the actual filming begins, a colorful cast of characters is introduced. Each character has his or her own story, and while effort is made to include aspects of their private lives into the plot, they are quickly pushed by the wayside as the plight of the filmmaker takes main stage.
While this does open the door for the moral of the story, it also works to detach the moviegoer from the film altogether. For those in the audience who are unable to identify with Cheung’s artistic frustration, the movie begins to drag on.
All hope is not lost, though, as there are many moments of great humor in the film which are, for the most part, able to lasso any wandering thoughts and herd them back to the turmoil at hand. In the end, this saves the film. What turns out to be a typical story with a very typical ending manages to keep itself afloat by actually entertaining its audience.
Viva Erotica has a surreal foreign flare which adds to the eroticism of the film as a whole. The characters and the setting provide the viewer with the ability to look in on a story without feeling as if they are part of it. The subtitles, however, can make a full understanding quite difficult. They flash on and off the screen at the speed of light, and are sometimes misspelled and poorly translated.
So, for those who enjoy an entertaining foreign film with an interesting cast and some off-color humor, then watching Viva Erotica would be excellent way to spend an evening. But, for those who prefer the brain candy Cheung was forced to produce in the film, stick to American fluff.
