Shu Qi movies

[Gaijin84]

Just a quick query - what are some movies that Shu Qi is the main actress and shows her acting abilities (if any ). Some recommendations for her best movies are greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance

[fartbubble]

She wasn't bad in Transporter, Eye 2 and Home Sweet Home.

[MrBooth]

I'd agree she was good in EYE 2, I'd disagree about TRANSPORTER!

She can definitely act when she makes the effort and has a good director - e.g. CITY OF GLASS, GORGEOUS, VISIBLE SECRET. I imagine she's good in MILLENIUM MAMBO and BISHONEN, but haven't seen them.

I enjoyed her performances in STORMRIDERS and VIVA EROTICA too, but they're both quite "full on" and probably polarise people more than most. I also enjoyed her in FOR BAD BOYS ONLY, LOOKING FOR MR PERFECT and SO CLOSE, though she wasn't stretchd much as an actress.

I'm never averse to having Shu Qi turn up on screen, basically, even when it's in something as dire as MARTIAL ANGELS :p

[Evon Yu]

I strongly recommend 1995/6's VIVA EROTICA. Despite its twee English title, this is a serious film about creativity, selling out, and the demise of the HK film industry in the second half of the 1990s. Shu Qi plays "herself", that's to say, a poor girl from Taiwan who makes a kind of success of herself in CAT III films by sleeping with a producer three times her age and stripping off for the camera. Thanks to an excellent script, she goes from being a caricature to a real human being with considerable depth in the course of the film. Also seen here is an excellent early turn by Karen Mok with the amazing and justifiably famous opening of her thrashing around in bed and shrieking at the late Leslie Cheung, tchap ngoh! tchap ngoh!! ("F**k me! F**k me!")

[bkasten]

Yeh verily, the '48-going-on-14' spirit of otto dresel hath returneth again.

I second (third?) the Viva Erotica recommendation...but for Leslie's performance mostly.

I find where Shu Qi is at her very best, is any role in which she does physical comedy. Her drag scene in Seoul Raiders is absolute perfection--or rather stands out as such in that otherwise mediocre film.

In general I find Shu Qi to still be vastly underrated as an actress. Unfortunately her (formidable) sexuality continues to get in the way of people seeing her true acting talents.

.02, FWIW

[Brian Thibodeau]

I remember seeing her in something called T-BACK SHOW many, ahem, moons ago and thought she was quite good. It was a reltively wordless performance, but one could see she was destined for greater things.

Apart from that, I'd also recommend CITY OF GLASS, MY LOVING TROUBLE and VIVA EROTICA, though while she's certainly blessed with beauty, her performances are really not all that different in my experience. Not having seen her most recent couple of pictures, I don't know if her range has broadened lately, but throughout most of the 90's pictures I tended to see her as a perfectly capable who worked well when kept within a certain range of emotions - dizzy, pouty, sincere, hurt, what have you. When someone would play her against type, as Wong Jing tried in WESLEY'S MYSTERIOUS STORY, she just seemed game but lost.

[JohnR]

I agree that she can act well when asked to. (I think she's like Charlene Choi in this respect, except Charlene isn't asked to very often.)

My list would be, in no particular order:

Viva Erotica**
City of Glass**
Gorgeous (though she can get on my nerves here)
Love L-O-V-E (though the movie itself is dopey)
Love Is Not A Game But A Joke**
Portland Street Blues (small role, but powerful)**
My Loving Trouble 7
Born to be King (small role)
Visible Secret**
Millennium Mambo**
Looking for Mr. Perfect
Eye2**

Wow, my list is probably too long. I'll ** the ones I think are especially good.

[Fueled By Fire]

My recommendations in no particular order would be Viva Erotica, Portland Street Blues, and Looking for Mr. Perfect. I've actually seen her in several more movies, but to be quite honest, other then the movies I listed, I've never really been moved by any of her performances.