Dream Home (維多利亞壹號, 2010)

Two good films, and 彭浩翔 is certainly having a good 2010.

I didn’t find 維多利亞壹號 particularly disturbing : it’s all an entertaining pitch black comedy, and not the cruel, rape-fantastic Cat III HK films of yesteryears. It’s also deliberately offensive: the opening neck killing, the brief porno scenes on TV, the kids gleefully shouting 仆街, even the pregnant woman’s murder, are good evidence. And offensiveness doesn’t equate with obscenity, which is why the TELA cuts are unjustified.

I love the opening titles, but I wish they dwelled more on the anger and ‘politics’ of the film. Then again, 維多利亞壹號 is a horror film with a social conscience wrapping, not the other way around. And the ending: will we get a sequel? Why not film 何超儀 castrating his father and his billionaire friends in Part II? It’ll add an Oedipean reading to the film

But I was slightly troubled by the contradictory attitudes about women in 維多利亞壹號: it’s played like an ultraviolent female empowerment-revenge fantasy, but the freeloving Chinese whores deserved all the punishment they can get. I won’t go as far as describing 維多利亞壹號 as an good ol’ Hong Kong exploitation film, and to an extent their presence is justified to mock the aloof bohemians, but is it just a case of deliberately including sex and violence, or more of a reflection of the creators’ biases?

Then again, violence always brings out the fun in all horror films, right?

我第一個感覺是香港拍不出荷里活那些直面制度的作品(近期看的是the international), 所以只能用其他題材來包裝住那個想講的題目才會有人想看. 在信報看到登徒(?)說這電影根本沒有負任何責任的自說自話, 和社會問題說不上有何連繫, 不知你有沒有同感?

re: The Daydreamer
I agree that “維多利亞壹號” is intended to be offensive, and TELA’s censorship somehow weakened this effect, which is lamentable~

If there is a sequel, I think 鄭麗嫦 may as well be the one being hunted this time, since at the end of this film she has finally moved up the social ladder as a property owner~ I do long for the Oedipal scene you suggested, but I doubt 何超儀 would dare to do it~ In fact, I have a little reservation when people say this film takes the developers as the target, since the developers are eerily absent in it~ They are left unharmed, and the rules they set for this crazy market are eventually unchallenged~ Even back in the days when 鄭麗嫦’s family is being forced to move out, the target of the residents’ protest is the Government and the triad members, but not the developers~

I didn’t pay too much attention to the film’s attitude about women, as the target of 鄭麗嫦’s grudge seems to be quite random, and the whores are more like excuses for adding a little sexy element~ I once thought she would lynch the old couple who suddenly refused to sell her their apartment, but I guess it’s just too vile and bad-taste to kill defenseless old people?

re: dosss,
我沒看過登徒那篇耶, 有連結可提供嗎? 我不會說 “維多利亞壹號” 跟社會問題沒有連繫, 而是如我上文所言, 它最終沒有挑戰和顛覆這制度, 鄭麗嫦 只是用 “走精面” 的方法拿取參與這遊戲的入場券, 踩著別人的屍骨往上爬~ 這種取向沒有提示革命的可能, 但我看這反而更加接近普遍香港人的心態: 只希望自私地在制度下撈點油水, 而不是要為大眾爭取甚麼社會公義~ 與其說這是對地產商的控訴, 不如說是揭露香港人自私自利的一面~

不如睇

sorry…顯示不到…我係話 “的士判官”

re: g
咁不如兩部睇晒啦~

ohhh,, there are great musics in your blog ..
they are really beautiful .

re: heiyau
glad that you like it~ =]

我沒有在信報發表過任何維多利亞一號的影評，閣下是否弄錯了。