I know this will sound like a bizarre request but I am doing a little research on a specific re-occuring theme I have been findingpre-dominantly in Hong Kong cinema. I was hoping people could point out to me specific movies in which there are scenes where women wear facial/mud masks (ie the beauty treatment kind). If anyone could point out some titles to Asian films which contain scenes like this I would greatly appreciate it! I have come across a few but I have only began delving into the cinema.

Thanks!

I can't remember if she's in full mudpack, but Charlene Choi in "My Wife Is 18" has a scene where she at least has fruit slices over her eyes. It either is, or is close to, what you're looking for.

Tony Leung has a mudpack scene in Jackie Chan's "Gorgeous." He plays a gay guy.

Thanks for your help!

Anyone know of any other movies? Thanks!

Anita Mui in Saviour Of The Soul?

And yes, it does sound like a bizarre request :p

I could be remembering the wrong movie here, but didn't Sandra Ng do this somewhere in GOLDEN CHICKEN?

Karen Mok in Wait 'Til You're Older

hkyog wrote:I know this will sound like a bizarre request but I am doing a little research on a specific re-occuring theme I have been finding pre-dominantly in Hong Kong cinema...

I must admit, it does sound incredibly bizarre -- what is the purpose of the research and singling out the target of Hong Kong cinema? The images you seek aren't just dominant in Chinese cinema, but can be found almost anywhere (and readily) in a high volume of western (ergo: American) cinema. Perhaps even moreso in American and general western film than anywhere else (inclusive of HK cinema).

If this is, as I suspect, a study in themes of "beautification" and "self-image" in Asian cinema, then I would have to conclude that the topic you are researching is a more a global one than one solely "predominant" in Hong Kong (or Asian) cinema. American films like Bille Woodruff's BEAUTY SHOP or Amy Heckerling's CLUELESS will attest to that...

White Dragon wrote:I must admit, it does sound incredibly bizarre -- what is the purpose of the research and singling out the target of Hong Kong cinema? The images you seek aren't just dominant in Chinese cinema, but can be found almost anywhere (and readily) in a high volume of western (ergo: American) cinema. Perhaps even moreso in American and general western film than anywhere else (inclusive of HK cinema).

If this is, as I suspect, a study in themes of "beautification" and "self-image" in Asian cinema, then I would have to conclude that the topic you are researching is a more a global one than one solely "predominant" in Hong Kong (or Asian) cinema. American films like Bille Woodruff's BEAUTY SHOP or Amy Heckerling's CLUELESS will attest to that...

I do not completely agree with this at least when not considering modern HK cinema. A friend of mine and have noticed that if you take a few of the comedies produced in HK from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s this theme shows up quite often. Sometimes there are jokes directed at it and sometimes it has nothing to do with the story at all and is just there. Given the amount of movies outputted from HK and compared to the amount outputted in say American films...this theme shows up much more often in HK films (at least it did). Now the American films you mentioned naturally lead to a conclusion that they might contain this type of thing but in HK cinema it seems to appear at any time with anything.

Because this theme appeared more frequently in HK cinema in those years we have been wondering what the reason was behind it. Was there some "cinematic tradition" with it in those years? Or was there some sort of cultural or socital issue behind it? We have been looking for patterns in these movies as to why this occurs ... most of the time we luck across it in a film but it is also nice to get ahold of films which contain it just to see why which is why I've been requesting movies that contain it.

P.S. - For anyone else wondering neither Golden Chicken films contain this so it must have been another film.

This "Hong Kong mask correlation" is not a mystery at all. It's a very commonly used skin/beauty treatment, and is a normal part of the HK scenery. My life partner is a Chinese woman born and raised in HK, and as such these masks have been a very common sight in my life. Yes, they are the occassional subject of jokes between us, but in general they are just "there" and really don't matter much one way or the other.

Nothing to see here ladies and gents. Move along now...

I know this a very common thing. My original post was expressing that the manifestation of this theme was more prevalient in HK cinema then I have seen anywhere else. I wanted to find out with this was. Is "self-image" more important in Asian culture or what? In requesting about movies that contained it I was seeking to see what context they continually appeared in. The answers I've been getting from people do not address WHY its appears more often.

I did not find it fair that I should justify why I wanted to know films that contained it beyond my first post. I felt it was explained my intent simply. If people wanted to tell me what films contained it it was their choice I never thought it would become an issue in which I would have to defend. The obvious need not be stated.

As such I still reiterate that this appears more often in HK cinema than elsewhere and, moreover, if any of you would like. Please share with me further movies that contain it.

While I can see where you're tyring to go with your research, and I generally don't think you should have to defend it since it's your own project, I suspect that people are wary due to the potential for bad science, so to speak.

Personally I can't help but wonder whether your study is based unwittingly on a preconceived notion rooted in your admittedly limited personal experience with the types of films in question, and in particular whether that preconception is possibly based on having simply seen more Asian films than western films featuring such references, and is therefore akin to forcing the facts to fit the hypothesis (the hallmark of junk science, of course).

That certainly doesn't mean it's not an avenue worth pursuing, at least to those who see fit to do so, but the statistics have the potential to remain debatable, based largely on personal experience, as it appears they will be. I suspect most of us here are at least aware of the depth and breadth of Asian beauty treatments and traditions, but whether they are more prevalent than those of any other country or continent could very well be negligible, and certainly unprovable without mountains of research. Some buy into the standards of beauty, some don't. If you're actually able to produce some interesting and provable statistics out of all of this, then more power to you. But you'll have to watch one heck of a lot of movies, since a good number of fans won't likely be mof much assistance since they probably never paid the phenomena much mind when it popped up on screen in a Hong Kong picture, let alone a picture from anywhere else in the world.

That said, I honestly can't think of any pictures where I've seen the phenomenon on screen, and I've probably seen a couple thousand Hong Kong films! It was probably there in some of them, alright, but I'm one of the ones who assumes such things to be part and parcel of most world cultures, and therefore no more represented in one film culture than any other.

Best of luck to you , though!