Hong Kong film festival features adultery movie

“Hi, Fidelity” is about a trio of wealthy Hong Kong women of leisure (“tai-tai,” in Cantonese vernacular) who take revenge for their husbands’ philandering and frequent absences by engaging in extramarital affairs with young gigolos at a karaoke club across the border in mainland China. It takes a notably nonjudgmental look at marital infidelity, gangsters, lesbians and male sex workers.

The film is the first to be directed by Calvin Poon since 1986, when he made his debut with “Kiss Me Goodbye.”

“I tried very hard to make other films,” says Mr. Poon, who has a drawer full of unproduced scripts to prove it. But nothing panned out, so instead he carved out a varied career as a screenwriter, actor, song lyricist and television sports commentator.

“It’s like juggling,” he says. “Hong Kong is a very special place, where people work in several fields at the same time. I always try to make myself ready to do another project.”

“Hi, Fidelity,” which had its premiere last week as part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, stars Pat Ha, a leading actress from the 1980s in her first major role in two decades, Michelle Ye and Carrie Ng. The cast also includes such well-known Hong Kong movie names as William Chan, Chapman To, Lawrence Cheng and George Lam.

Mr. Poon has put his offbeat comedy-melodrama up against some big-budget competition, and in the current cinematic lull — between the major movie-going holiday seasons of Chinese New Year and May 1 — it’s struggling to find an audience. “Hi, Fidelity” is playing on fewer than 20 screens in Hong Kong, with no confirmed release dates in other markets. This week it’s also facing off against “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” a mainstream romantic comedy-drama from co-directors Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai, which features an A-list cast — Louis Koo, Daniel Wu and Gao Yuanyuan — and had a high-profile premiere last week as the festival’s opening-night film. It opened Thursday.

Category: Adultery on stage and screen, World adultery news

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