Ninth Happiness (1998)
Reviewed by: grimes on 2000-04-08
Whoever came up with this idea is a genius, pure and simple. A Hong Kong movie
musical! This is just about the coolest thing ever, as far as I am concerned. While
Ninth Happiness is about as far from deep as it could possibly be, it is beyond
reproach for its sheer entertainment value.

The plot concerns the three Ma Lun brothers, who have come to the ultra-nice town
of Choi Yuen, the older two brothers intent on stirring up trouble. These two are the
town's new officials (positions unspecified) and they are determined to turn the town
into a den of iniquity, complete with gambling dens and prostitution.

Meanwhile, the youngest brother (Leslie Cheung) falls in love at first sight (there is
no other kind in musicals) with Chi-Wan. Gau Gau, a servant of the town's resident
wise rich woman (Mrs. Minister), falls in love with the oldest brother (Raymond Wong)
because there was a prophecy that she would fall in love with a bearded man. And
then there is Heung (who eats constantly throughout the entire film) and Kenny Bee,
another couple.

In standard musical comedy form, there is of course a comedy of errors when
Chi-Wan and Kenny Bee see Heung and Leslie Cheung together (Heung is helping
Leslie win Chi-Wan's heart) and they assume that they are having an affair. This
makes for some good comedic moments and one particularly hilarious musical
number with Kenny Bee and Wu Chien-Lien, which more or less mocks a similar
number from earlier in the film.

One of the best things about this film is its knowing use of musical cliches. For
example, there is a fantastic scene where a dance number breaks out in the middle of
the town square, which is a an homage to an older style of film, and also a brilliantly
comic moment, because the other characters in the film react to this exactly as they
should, with shock at the fact that people would do this for no reason. There are also
numerous references to the fact that the characters are singing, and this oddity is
noted at least once or twice. In addition, there is also a great deal of non-specifically
silly humor throughout.

The actors in the film do quite a good job with this, and I particularly liked Wu Chien
Lin's extremely silly portrayal of a typical romantic lead in a musical. It's a silly role
and she knows it. Leslie Cheung was obviously born to be in this kind of film and so
his performance comes as no surprise. What was surprising was how well Gigi Lai fit
the role of the sidekick. Her shallow cuteness is perfect in this type of film. Amanda
Lee is also good, and she has one of the best numbers in the film, wherein she exerts
her power over Raymond Wong.

The music mostly consists of more or less traditional sounding opera- and folk
song-lite. None of the songs are particularly catchy and there is only once even
vaguely large set piece musical number, which is the one thing the film really lacks.
Some of the songs are quite funny, however, particularly when they combine folk
song sounds and modern rhythms. I'm not sure if this effect was intentional or not,
but I was too busy cracking up to really ponder it anyway.

It's about as frivolous an entertainment as I can imagine, but Ninth Happiness is a
classic. Unfortunately, it's box office take was apparently poor, so I don't know if there
will be any future Hong Kong musicals. I can only hope.