Lee See Fung (1988)
Reviewed by: STSH on 2002-06-29
Summary: Don't bother
The opening frames show the title character being shot by firing squad, which takes away a lot of interest right off ! The story is of course told in flashback. What puzzles me is why anyone thought it was worth making a movie about this guy. Wu Ma's characterization wavers between ordinary poor working stiff and callous bastard, with occasional (and hard to swallow) scenes of familial feeling. The film purports to show a character who is admired by some Taiwanese, but doesn't really make clear why. Although the story follows the title character (actually Lee Si Kao, not Lee See Fung) pretty closely, and Wu Ma's wrinkled visage dominates nearly every frame, we really don't find out much about the character or his motivation.

I only really rented this video because of curiousity about the rarely-seen actress Chui Suk Woon. I've been fascinated by her since seeing her identified on-screen in the weird but fun The Seventh Curse. She was identified as the horny blonde who tried to bed Chin Siu Ho's character. Well, there are no blondes in this film ! She could have played either Si Kao's adopted daughter or his favourite whore, I'm not sure. But neither of them appear much in the story.

Wu Ma is capable of much better than this, both in terms of acting skill and choice of material. Not recommended.
Reviewer Score: 1