'carmen' is bizet's most famous opera; telling the story of a fiery gypsy girl, who seduces don jose, causing him to rebel against his superiors in the spanish army and join a band of smugglers, which carmen belongs to. carmen soon becomes bored and focusses her attentions on the bullfighter, escamillo. don jose descends into madness, eventually killing carmen...

'the wild, wild rose' takes the premise of bizet's opera and relocates it to the smoke-filled nightclubs of hong kong's wanchai district. carmen becomes deng 'wild rose' sijia (grace chang); a feisty, strong-willed singer, who often hides a kind heart beneath bravado. her weakness is men; falling in love with each one she meets, only to spurn them when a new one arrives on the scene. the latest target, for her affections, is liang hanhua (zhang yang); hanhua is a teacher, who has lost his job during the economic struggles of the late 1950's, and takes a job playing piano for sijia.

despite the fact that hanhua is a good, honest man, who is engaged to be married, sijia claims that she will have him for herself within only ten days. initially nervous and intimidated, hanhua rejects sijia's advances but, as he catches glimpses of the kind heart that she keeps well-hidden, he falls for her. as their passion reaches it's peak, cyclops (tong dik); a dangerous ganster and sijia's former husband, is released from prison and comes looking for her. after escaping from his clutches, sijia and hanhua find themselves isolated from their friends and family, without work and threatened by cyclop's desire for revenge...

when i bought this dvd, i thought that it would be another of 'cathay films' campy productions, especially as wong tin-lam (who directed 'mad, mad, mad swords', which i watched recently) was attached to it. i was wrong. which, in this case, was a good thing...

'the wild, wild rose' adapts 'carmen' in an inventive and original way; it doesn't simply transpose its source material, it re-invents it. from the opening tiles, to the final, tragic climax, you know you are watching a production that oozes class. grace chang is simply stunning as the emponymous 'wild rose'; torn between her generous heart and her selfish passions. whilst zhang yang is completely convincing as a corrupted innocent, who is all consumed by a desire, which ultimately destroys him. wong tin-lam handles this journey perfectly, making each change in the films tone seamless and natural.

visually, the film is equal to the noirs which it emulates; the set design is fantastic and the shadow-heavy cinematography is a superb compliment to shady world of wanchai's nightclubs. now, for the songs. ryoichi hattori manages to adapt bizet's music to suit the nightclub bands of 1960; it's spanish influences are perfect for a world which had recently been flooded with bossa nova.

an unexpected jem.