‘4 Faces’ Offers Convention, Razzle-Dazzle

The film “4 Faces of Eve” is a so-so showcase for Hong Kong actress-comedian Sandra Ng. Written and directed by Kam Kwok-Leung, Jan Lamb and Eric Kot in a surreal guerrilla style, “4 Faces” is zesty and fun but may well leave you a bit perplexed--not to mention weary--over material that at base is fairly conventional.

But thanks to the razzle-dazzle style of cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Wong Kar-Wai’s prodigious colleague, and to Ng’s no-holds-barred stance, “4 Faces” certainly has its moments but will probably be best appreciated by young Cantonese-speaking audiences. It seems fair to say that this film, composed of four sketches, is one of those instances in which subtitles can’t convey all that is going on, especially when the narrative line is deliberately fragmented.

What does come across loud and clear is Ng’s rage at men. In the first episode, she plays a blond hooker who is coming apart after three years on the street. While the soundtrack reveals her constant attempts to get through to a psychiatrist, she reaches out to a young psychiatry student she meets in a huge indoor pool only to be bluntly rebuffed by him.

The second episode is one of the strongest, a furious whirlwind in which a group of people rushes off a train and ends up in an abandoned warehouse as clinky music keys the sequence’s jolting pace. There’s a Brechtian quality to this vignette in which Ng plays a virtual slave to a boorish, brutal man and his pal--they’re the kind of guys who abuse women, then go to bars to get drunk and sing “Moon River” and “Tie a Yellow Ribbon.” Episode 2 ends with a rush to a train like the one that it begins with; you’re left with the sense that people are fleeing Armageddon.

Number 3 is an elusive, eerie tale of a role change between twins, engaged in the cosmetics business. The sister is dying at home while the brother--both are played by Ng--goes to the office. Make of this one what you will.

“4 Faces” appropriately concludes with its most accessible, most substantial sequence, a savage satire on the humiliating horrors of game shows--an old target made fresh--in which a wife must guess the identity of the mystery guest, one of her husband’s three mistresses. The reward is a “country apartment,” a less-than-300-square-foot unit with a typical Hong Kong view of a high-rise canyon.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: strong language, some violence, some sex.

‘4 Faces’

Sandra Ng:Prostitute, Slave Woman, Twin brother and sister, Housewife

Jan Lamb:Young psychiatry student, Game show host

Eric Kot:Husband (2nd story)

Karen Mok: Sister

Wyman Wong: Mistress (2nd story)

Chan Fai-Hung: Husband (4th story)

A Margin release of a Spark Star production. Directors Jan Lamb, Eric Kot, Kam Kwok-Leung, Jeff Pollack. Producer William Chang. Executive producer Sandra Ng. Screenplay by Kam Kwok-Leung. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Editors Kot, Chan Kei-Hap, Chang. Costumes Sui Kwong-Chan. Music Tam Kwok-Jing, et al. Art director Nim Man-Chung. In Cantonese with English and Chinese subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

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