New comer as a director, Crystal Kwok is one of the new highlights from the Hong-Kong movie industry. In March 2000, Laurent Henry and Master Cyco had the chance to meet Crystal Kwok at the second Far East Film Festival in Deauville, France. Her first movie as a director, The Mistress, was screened then. So let have a look at Crystal Kwok biography, an interview and a short review on The Mistress.

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Crystal Kwok Biography
Born in San Francisco, Crystal Kwok studied both in Los Angeles and in Hong Kong. After wining a beauty pageant contest in the former British colony, she quickly got started in cinema. She appeared, for instance, in Police Story 2 and Dragon Forever with Jackie Chan. Kwok had, however, a strong personality and a willpower to succeed, so she couldn't carry on playing dull characters for years like many other actresses. She decided to go back to studies in the USA, where she found a great opportunity to play with Jet Li in a movie directed by Tsui Hark, The Master.

Even if Crystal Kwok made short appearances in films such as Will Of Iron (1991) or Ah Kam (1996), her first interest wasn't the art of acting. She became a radio DJ, then a TV presenter. She hosted a talk show that dealt with taboo subjects, in particular with sex life in HK. In addition to that, she got to learn how to direct features. She became director-assistant on Mary From Beijing in 1992. In 1993, she directed Little One for cable TV, then she made, in 1994, a documentary about Jackie Chan for French TV Channel Canal +.

We would have to wait 1999, however, for the release of her first movie The Mistress. Five years have been necessary to produce this project. The theme of the movie, HK women sexuality, was enough to scared cautious investors. The film provoked a polemic and was rated category 3, a category usually dedicated to sexy or gore movies in HK. In spite of the scandal, the film didn't make much at the box office. The movie was, however, critically acclaimed, and it should help Crystal Kwok to carry on her directorial career.

Hopefully, her next project won't be as controversial as The Mistress. " I hope to tell a simple and interesting story " she explained. Judging from The Mistress qualities, it will be interesting to follow Crystal Kwok career as a unique and original female director from HK.

Written by Laurent Henry, April 2000
Freely translated by Thomas, September 2002.

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Interview

Laurent Henry and Master Cyco had the opportunity to meet Crystal Kwok at the 2000 film festival of Deauville, France.

She kindly agreed to answer our questions about her debut, when she teamed up with Jet Li and Tsui Hark, when she was Maggie Cheung's double, and about her first feature The Mistress.

 

HK Cinemagic: How did you end up in the HK film industry ?
Crystal Kwok: I started as an actress a long time ago. I am behind the camera, I am a director now.

In which films did you star?
I made my first films with Jackie Chan, Dragon Forever and Police Story 2. I also worked under the direction of Tsui Hark in The Master.

Tsui Hark has the reputation to be hard with actors, hasn't he?
Yes. He is a clever man. He loves to challenge actors to see how they react. When I was in the USA to study films, he kept defying me and I defied him. We almost fought, but it was very constructive.

Did you enjoy this collaboration?
Absolutely. We argue during most of the diner, but it was fun.

And how was Jet Li on the set of The Master?
He did not talk much. I should say that he did not speak English very well at the time... It is Jet Li. He has his own way.

You appeared also in Ah Kam by Ann Hui. It was a difficult shooting, Michelle Yeoh was badly injured…
Yes. I didn't see what happened. There was a similar accident on the set of Police Story 2. Maggie Cheung got a head injury. I was young and free at the time. Then I became her double for the stunts because she was in the hospital. I was also a stuntwoman then!

What do you like in the Hong-Kong industry as director?
The possibility to do whatever you want. Hong-Kong filmmakers have an incredible capacity of adaptation. In Hollywood, you need to get authorisations first, whereas in Hong-Kong you're free to make everything. Creativity is of first importance there.

Which directors do you find the most interesting in Hong-Kong?
Tsui Hark is currently an acclaimed director. I like also Fruit Chan because he's out of the commercial system. I think that the Hong-Kong cinema industry should welcome more independent filmmakers. There are tons of interesting stories to tell. But everyone wants to make action movies based on the same formulas. There should be more space for interesting films.

Was it difficult to produce a feature like The Mistress?
Yes, very hard. It took 5 years from script writing to production. In Hong-Kong the theme of the film was badly welcomed because it was considered as an insane subject. It was rated category 3. However there is no nudity. It explores the female sexuality from the psychological point of view. It is a taboo subject in Hong-Kong.

Why did you choose such subject?
In Hong-Kong, I host a TV talk show. My program deals with food and sexuality. Many people told me their feelings about their love affairs. I thought it was interesting to show this side of Hong-Kong.

In The Mistress, men are negatively shown. Alex boyfriend is dull, and Henry is egoistic…
Yes, but men like Henry attract some women because they have power and money.

So for you, do men trap women because of their inability? Or are women simply trapped because of their way to love?
I think women do get trapped themselves. They think they can play the game by controlling their feelings. But they simply can't. This is why I believe that they get trapped.

And is there not any solution then?
Not, I think that it is always tragic, it is endless. I hope that some will learn [laughing].

It's a very pessimistic vision on women, isn't it?
I don't believe so. It is a reality.

What is your next project? Another category 3?
Not, not necessarily [laughing]. I hope to tell a simple and interesting history.

Special Thanks to Crystal Kwok for her patience and kindness.
Many Thanks as well to the Deauville Far East Film Festival press crew.
Crystal Kwok was interviewed by Laurent Henry, March 2000.

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The Mistress - the review

Crystal Kwok's first movie, inspired by a true story, deals with the adventures of a young woman, Alex (Jacqueline Peng), hired by a rich businessman, Henry (Ray Lui), to give English private tuition to his mistress, Michelle (Vicky Chen). Initially confused by the situation, Alex quickly becomes a friend of Michelle. The mistress teaches her how to seduce men. Alex is firstly reluctant. But she gradually falls for Henry, and takes Michelle's role as a mistress. She, however, quickly rejects this condition of a woman in the shadow of a man. She loves Henry, but he doesn't want to leave his wife. He finally breaks up with an over-the-top Alex, who would have to mourn such relationship.

If this love affair isn't very original, the force of Crystal Kwok direction was to tell the story with a new style and a refreshing tone. Indeed Kwok multiplied cinematographic processes, but surely didn't make a melting pot of effects, so current in Hong-Kong productions. She intended actually to illustrate systematically what she was saying, and to use the camera to serve her speech right. Hence the moving camera-works when the young women do some shopping. Shots lose their reality: filters are used when showing Alex phantasms, or some scenes become a dream when a woman wandering in a misty forest illustrates the female psyche. Shots are static and slower in the depiction of melancholic moments. The music score is extremely varied as well, from jazz to Canto pop, passing by classical music. This variety of styles doesn't imply, however, a lack of coherence. The multiplicity of styles has even the capability to surprise the audience and maintains his interest. On top of that, The Mistress passes from laughter to tears, from lightness to gravity, from decency to vulgarity. This well-mastered freedom of tone makes the film unique.

These qualities go along with an original subtext for a Hong-Kong movie. It can easily face any European productions, where love affairs are one of the favourite subjects. Crystal Kwok has entirely directed The Mistress from a female point of view. She avoids then any moralistic approach and she depicts, therefore, an intriguing, exciting, but also an unsatisfactory experiment. Kwok avoids any simplification by preserving this ambivalence. If men are mediocre, women are, however, not shown like victims persecuted by them (Alex boyfriend is dull and Henry is egoistic). Director Kwok insists on the importance of the realm of fancy in love for a woman, the importance of imagination that quickly makes her forget all realities. Prisoner of a love feeling, Alex, refuses her role of mistress assigned by Henry. She loses control of the situation and she can only find a way out by stopping her love for him.

Two beautiful sequences show perfectly well this tragic dimension of the woman. The first one takes place during a modern painting exhibition. This is the first time Alex and Henry meet, and it is merely a date between friends. Alex admits that she doesn't understand contemporary art, whilst the camera stops on an abstract painting. The meaning of this scene changes at the end of film. Painting is then presented like a metaphor of love. Alex lack of understanding announced already her failure, her incapacity to understand that she would be overwhelmed by her love for Henry, by her role as a mistress. The punishment is terrible because Henry eventually leaves her without regret and she has to overcome her disappointment alone.
The second key sequence is probably when three women of Henry (his two mistresses and his wife) sing the final sentimental song. This is a wonderful metaphor to indicate this need for a woman to nourish herself with a representation of love based on a naive romanticism, an idealised love.

Is it the right solution then to have a cynical and feeling-less behaviour toward men? Some women surely would make this choice. Most of them remain captive of this way of viewing love. It is what seems to think director Crystal Kwok.

Written by Laurent Henry, April 2000
Freely translated by Thomas, September 2002.

 

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