The title doesn’t lie. Pang Ho-Cheung’s latest film, Vulagaria, is just that, vulgar, a concept that I’ve never really encountered in a Hong Kong film. As I sat there with open arms wondering what sort of crazy shenanigans I would encounter [the movie opens up with a warning about its content], it became clear that none of my guesses would have even come close to what actually unfolded throughout the film.
Chapman To stars as a b-rated film producer who is invited to talk at one of his friends’ classes. It is there where he explain to the students the importance of a producer and their role in the filmmaking process. While making a hilarious analogy in which he says producers are like public hair, he decides to recap his epic and crazy story of his attempt to remake the Shaw Brothers’ sexploitation film I Want More! It begins with obtaining money from a triad boss named Brother Tyrannosaurus who has a freaky attraction to animals and follows him as he discovers Popping Candy (Dada Chen), the actress who will be the body double for Susan Shaw Yin-yin, the woman who was in the original role. Simply put, Vulgaria is the chronicle of a film producer and his life.
Resting solely on dialogue to deliver its punch lines, Vulgaria manages to consistently deliver shocking laughs while doing a great job of satirizing the film industry. It also may be a disheveled hodgepodge of events slapped onto a screen but it mostly works because that’s exactly what the main character’s personality is like and so the two end up being perfect compliments of each other.
I personally haven’t seen many straight Hong Kong comedies, only romantic ones (like Pang’s Love in the Buff), and so I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that I laughed throughout the entire film. It’s not an ingenious comedy, but it’s shocking, crude and something you’d never expect from a Hong Kong film, especially if you’ve seen your fair share.
The movie does have an air of cheapness to it but it doesn’t always look that way. In fact,
Pang Ho-Cheung shot this in 12 days on a shoestring budget which is pretty impressive for a comedy as ridiculous as this even though I thought the editing could be better. I mean, they even go so far as to make up a jerking off video game and make it sound plausible for Asians. Who thinks of that?
Side note: As badly as I want to reveal why Dada’s character is named Popping Candy, I’ll restrain myself but I will say that at the end of the film there is a strong warning not to try and experience what she does at home.
Even with its B-rated acting, weird names, random analogies and monologues, Vulagaria ends up being a fresh experience because it may just be the first time you see Hong Kong actors being as lewd and dirty as possible. It’s not a movie for everyone but if you like raunchy movies and are looking for a screwball show that’ll surprise you at every corner then check out Pang Ho-Cheung’s latest, it’ll make you think about pubes and the entertainment industry in a different light.
Rating: Who knew Hong Kongers could be so perverse? (6.9/10)
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