True Women For Sale

Director Herman Yau revisits Whispers And Moans territory with True Women For Sale - except this time he has a little more fun. Anthony Wong is Lau Fu-yi, an insurance salesman who caters to working-class Hong Kong stiffs, including temporary construction workers, one of whom cashes in his chips after an accident. Lau is charged with delivering the meager insurance payment to the widow, Wong Lin-fa (Race Wong), a mainland Chinese immigrant with one daughter and another child on the way. Like many girls arriving from the mainland, Lin-fa desires Hong Kong residency, and against his initial judgment, Lau finds himself helping her out.

Meanwhile, prostitute Chung (Prudence Liew) needs extra cash to fix her hideous teeth in preparation for a special day. She passes her days earning extra money while also taking the time to worship dead chickens, killed during the avian flu scare, at a makeshift local shrine. Cantonese slang for a prostitute is “chicken”, so she’s a chicken that worships chickens - get it? That sort of humor is typical of True Women For Sale; co-writers Herman Yau and Yeeshan Yang (who also collaborated on Whispers And Moans) tackle local culture and social issues, twisting them for off-color, self-referential but still-funny laughs. Some of the jokes may not translate to international audiences, but the material is worthy, in large part because it shows a part of Hong Kong that few films do.

True Women For Sale doesn’t tell a story as much as it simply illuminates its characters and references local issues. One of Chung's regulars (Fung Hak-on) has long professed his affection for her, but the focus isn’t on some missed chance at love. Instead, we learn about how Hong Kong men increasingly ignore local women while looking to the mainland for young, fertile companionship. Meanwhile, just as mainland ladies steal local men, mainland prostitutes steal local customers, leaving women like Chung at a loss. Chung’s plight does not go unnoticed; local photojournalist Chi (Sammy Leung) begins shadowing her for a juicy human-interest story.
Chi also runs into Lau on more than one occasion, and Lin-fa and Chung crisscross too, resulting in a scattershot but interesting and effective look at local Hong Kong lives. The film doesn’t provide a conclusion on all its issues, but it feels informed, authentic and not pretentious.

True Women For Sale is ripe for loaded drama and heavy lessons, and as Whispers And Moans showed, Herman Yau and Yang Yeeshan aren’t afraid to get preachy. However, Yau is a tremendous director with this sort of subject matter, finding humanity, heart and humor in his local topics, and he does it without resorting to manipulation. The talky set-ups and educational exposition are surprisingly easy to take in, and the actors manage to make their didactic dialogue sound natural. The explication occasionally goes on a bit too long and sometimes the characters clearly become mouthpieces. However, Yau seldom uses the hammer. True Women For Sale is much more genial than Whispers And Moans. Both films do occasionally resort to clichés and sentimentality, but True Women For Sale is more lighthearted and knowing, and portrays its subject matter seriously but with affection.

The abundance of familiar faces helps. Many of the actors clearly took on the project due to the content and the crew, and not because of commercial prospects or a potential career boost. A popular singer with few acting credits, Prudence Liew is the standout. Her performance is a bit showy, but she carries the film through its maudlin moments, and is bravely undeterred by the unglamorous role. Race Wong doesn’t fare as well, in part due to inexperience, but also because her character is more of a mouthpiece than Liew’s is. The film’s status as a low-budget social drama means that it’s a bit rough; the narrative alternates between earnest drama and self-reflexive gags, and the production is rather spare. Still, Herman Yau is at his strongest when he has a smaller budget and a personal voice. Yau’s more commercial films can also be effective, but lack the personality, honesty and unpolished spirit that ultimately make True Women For Sale notable and also endearing.