Dir. Christopher Sun Lap Key, Hong Kong, 2011, 110 mins, in Cantonese with English subtitles
Cast: Saori Hara, Leni Lan, Vonnie Lui
Review by Juliea Stewart
This is a rather basic morality tale in which a man learns that ‘physical pleasure is not the same as joy’. Based on the novel The Carnal Prayer Mat, this Asian ‘karma sutra’ makes for entertaining viewing and some laugh out loud comedic moments, but is ultimately too simplistic to be satisfying.
Visually, the film is striking and appealing which works for both the erotic and violent scenes. But the soundtrack is mostly annoying, like standing in a Chinese restaurant waiting for takeout, while pornography is being edited in a Soho sex shop next door.
Anticipating the camp pleasures of Kung Fu Hustle, where the kung fu action comes thoroughly coated in comedy but never at the expense of the story, the concept of Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy appears full of promise – a rich eastern narrative enhanced by erotica perhaps? Instead it is pretty silly erotica, ranging from camp to slapstick. This is heavily layered onto a narrative thinner than rice-paper, involving some star crossed lovers, the theme of under-endowment, a pantomime villain, penis-exchange operations and a rather nasty looking pair of metal chastity pants.
Erotic here involves mostly to breasts with the occasional appearance of bums and one or two flashes of bush. No actual penetration is shown although plenty is suggested, often in a crass and overt fashion – no eastern mysteries here. After the first hour, any erotic appeal is certainly on the wane and events take a particularly nasty turn towards sex torture in the final third of the film. There are some eye-watering moments of suffering, particularly intense when seen in 3D, and by this time any arousal has been thoroughly doused.
The male organ is mostly the subject of humour and shown in a number of forms including a fountain centrepiece, a wall shadow and post-operation bandages. The scene in which a tiny male member is stretched between a dog’s mouth and a one-handed surgeon is the Hong Kong equivalent of a Farrelly Brothers gross-out moment.
The character motivation and early plot points certainly seem to reinforce stereotypes about size being the only thing that matters when it comes to sexual prowess, and little is done to suggest the lovemaking alternatives, for which eastern erotica is supposedly famous. The message of the film purports to be about love being a greater motivator for a long and happy marriage than sex. But this observation is made after we have seen only the unhappy side of sexual life and the sad fall of a priest (the only apparent reference to Zen in the film).
The 3D element certainly adds to the entertainment and novelty value. Although there does seems to be an over-reliance on a particular passageway (!) and too many repeats of the aerial shot over the temple, good use of 3D is made throughout. This is the case in terms of the sexual elements (there is a rather lovely scene of suggested female self-pleasuring with a stack of coins), the comedy (the ‘nice accessory’ that can spin a wheel is laugh out loud funny), and the more violent moments of the film (such as the dramatic knife throwing scenes towards the end).
The story boasts a pantomime cackling villain, with such strong similarities to the Ming the Merciless from the Flash Gordon school of evil that one expects green blood to ooze from him at some point. Laughable as it may be, there is certainly an appetite for this minor titillation flesh fest, which arrives at its twee homily via a nasty twist of torture and some good old fashioned swordplay. Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy took HK$2.78m (£219,000) on its Hong Kong first day opening, compared to James Cameron’s epic Avatar which pulled in HK$2.63m (£207,000).
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