49 Days

Year:2006
Director:Lam Kin-Lung, Tsui Siu-Ming
Cast:Stephen Fung Tak-Lun, Gillian Chung Yun-Tung, Raymond Wong Ho-Yin, Jess Zhang , Kau Lap-Yi, Steven Cheung Chi-Hung, Wong Yat-Fei, Lo Meng, Debbie Ng Tin-Yu, Sit Bun
Description:
People
who contend that the Twins are better apart than together
will likely want to nix 49 Days from their
list of evidence. A period supernatural thriller,
49 Days possesses some flashes of interest,
but the overall feeling is one of time-killing dullness.
Stephen Fung stars as Lau Sing, a Chinese medicine
practitioner who heads down the river with a bunch
of neighbors to start a Chinese medicine business.
In doing so, Lau Sing leaves his wife
and daughter behind, with the hopes that
their future fortunes will be solved by his fledgling
business. Flash-forward a few years and Lau Sing is
now a minor success. But it's not all wine and roses;
Lau Sing is betrayed by supposed buddy Pang Sei , who burns down
Lau Sing's business and frames him for the murder
of his colleagues and friends.
Lau Sing unfortunately
has zero chance at justice, but he does have a couple
of allies. Number one is his dopey prison guard , who offers to get Lau Sing a lawyer
to plead his case, and hopefully save Lau Sing from
execution. Lau Sing's savior turns out to be Siu Chin
, a neophyte lawyer who's so adorable
that she can't convince the court - much less a paying
audience - of her seriousness. Lau Sing gets sent
up the creek, but a minor stay of execution occurs.
For 49 days, Lau Sing will get the chance to reunite
with his family, but only if he hightails it home
right quick. He does so with Siu Chin in tow, and
finds that his family home is now a desolate mess,
with only his attitude-heavy daughter acting fully
functional. His wife is in a state of perpetual shock,
and there's even a creepy stranger wandering
around. Even worse, Pang Sei returns to try to claim
Lau Sing's home and sell it for cash. Can Lau Sing
stop the bastard before his overacting destroys all
of China?
49 Days is a
difficult film to talk about because doing so threatens
revealing spoilers - which shouldn't be that big a
deal because the film's poster and English title spoil
plenty on their own. A Chinese funeral lasts 49 days,
but of more relevance is the Buddhist belief that
the span of time between a person's death and their
next reincarnation is - you guessed it - 49 days.
Basically, Lau Sing is fast approaching an inexorable
fate, and his ability to stop Pang Sei's villainy
is obstructed by the ineffectuality of his metaphysical
state. Yes, we're using large words to disguise the
film's plotline, though if you bothered to read this
review, you probably aren't that afraid of film spoilers.
In that case, we'll reveal the ending: good triumphs,
and evil is sent packing. Plus, Gillian Chung is as
adorable as one expects her to be, and possesses absolutely
zero guile in her role as the cutest lawyer ever.
If you've ever wanted to see Hello Kitty as a lawyer,
this may be the closest you'll ever get.
But if it's good filmmaking
and not cuddly lawyers that you're looking for, then
you're out of luck. While possessing an intriguing
setting and some interesting details, 49 Days
is only barely average, and is so forgettable that
audiences leaving the theater may ask themselves what
movie they just saw. The film simply lacks the intensity
required to affect in any lasting way. The plot twists
aren't surprising, the atmosphere is less scary than
sullen, and the loud comedy relief is only distracting.
Wong Yat-Fei shows up in a hammy supporting role,
and his obvious attempts at comedy are only marginally
enhanced by that kid from Boy'z. Gillian Chung is
predictably adorable, though her winning screen presence
is more an extension of her Twins persona than a result
of any actual acting. Stephen Fung is bland, and Raymond
Wong goes so over-the-top as the heinous Pang Sei
that he seems to be auditioning for the Waise Lee
role in a remake of A Bullet in the Head. Only
Lo Meng brings any charisma to the screen, but that's
probably because he was one of those kick-ass guys
from The Five Deadly Venoms. Presumably audiences
would enjoy it more if actor cred wasn't based on
a previous film, let alone one that's nearly three
decades old.
Those looking to kill
time with one of those pesky Twins may end up being
more charitable towards 49 Days. As disposable
time-killing junk, the film does possess its minor
charms. The minor cultural details are intriguing,
such as the use of rhinoceros horn as a ghost-seeing agent. Also, the climax
manages a few tense moments with its scenes of child
peril and nifty ghost/human interaction. Still, the
movie could have been so much better. The setting
and some minor plot devices recall Tsui Hark's forgotten
classic Love in the Time of Twilight. Like
49 Days, that film possessed an early 1900s
setting, a relatively dark storyline, and a blurred
line between the living and the dead. But Love
in the Time of Twlight was enlivened by a charming
romantic subplot, clever staging, and a giddy pace
that made it feel like a better film than it probably
was. 49 Days could have used some of Tsui Hark's
cinema panache; even making the film a knock-off of
Chinese Ghost Story would have been a welcome
diversion. 49 Days was directed by a different
Tsui, namely former kung-fu star Tsui Siu-Ming, whose
eye for cultural detail helped make the 1990 pic Bury
Me High into an entertaining action romp. But
that's an older, better Hong Kong film, and the fifth
enjoyable HK flick that we've just mentioned. Enough
nostalgia! It would be great if getting misty about
HK Cinema's golden years could make 49 Days
a better film. Unfortunately, it doesn't.