Culture

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Movie Review

 

October 2, 2002

 

 

 

8 Women

 

 

  

LIVING IN A HOUSE PULL OF WOMEN CAN BE MURDER

 

 

Come Drink with Me

 

Rea Harasemljuk
OP Contributor

I didn’t really have many expectations going
to see this movie, other than trying to make
it there on time. Knowing that this movie is
one of many that are being screened for the
Vancouver Film Festival, I did expect French
and subtitles. But what I didn’t expect was a
very interesting mystery movie about eight
women of different generations. Starring
Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert,
Emanuelle Beart and Fanny Ardant, 8 Women
takes a colorful and imaginative approach to
the murder mystery.

Besides the great fifties dresses and beauti-
ful French women, the plot was very clever
and entertaining. A young lady comes home
from London for Christmas holidays to find
that her sick grandmother and cold and bit-

ter aunt have moved in with her family. As

‘the morning unfolds they realize that the

father is dead in his bed, more precisely—
murdered. From that point on, the story
develops a more mysterious tone and we get
to learn about the eight women and their
secrets as they try to figure out who killed,
once-rich Marcel.

The movie is filmed very cleverly, never let-
ting on too much about what is to come, but
just enough to keep you interested to the end.
Strangely, there are a few musical interludes
throughout, but it didn’t seem to take away
from the suspense.

This film is very, very clever, beautiful, artis-
tic, entertaining and very French. Loved it.
Go and see it for yourself.

Michelle Juurlink
OP Contributor

Okay, I admit that I don’t
like martial arts movies—and
probably wouldn't have went
to see Come Drink with Me
had I known what the movie
was about. But I didn't, so I
went and was completely
entertained, even laughing
out loud (yes, I know the
film isn’t a comedy).

Come Drink with Me,
filmed in Hong Kong, set a
new standard for martial art
films when it came out in
1966. Its apparent that
Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon was heavily influ-
enced by it: some of the
scenes in Crouching Tiger are
almost mirror images to
those in Come Drink with
Me. Directed by King Hu,
Come Drink with Me was
recently resurrected from the
archives and restored by the
Shaw Brothers. Watching it
today, the film is amazingly
modern, minus the outdated
special effects, which are

laughable by today’s stan-
dards. In one action scene, a
henchman cuts off an
enemy’s hand and lifts up the
oh-so-obvious mannequin’s
hand for a close-up shot.

Set during the reign of the
Ming Dynasty, the Five Tiger
gang is on the loose and free-
ing its imprisoned members
from jail. The movie begins
with the gang kidnapping a
high-ranking government
official. The ransom? Release
one of their members. Enter
the Golden Swallow played
by Cheng Pei-pei (the evil
old nanny in Crouching
Tiger). She proceeds to kick
ass in a restaurant scene
demanding that the official,
who happens to be her
brother, be released or
else...she'll really kick some
ass. The restaurant scene is
mirrored almost exactly in
Crouching Tiger, as the
Golden Swallow coolly and
calmly flies around the room

slaying henchmen.

Golden Swallow is helped
in her quest by a mysterious
kung fu master named
Drunken Cat—he’s a fan of
the wine, and drinks ftom
morning till night, often
breaking into musical song
with his beggar gang of little
kids. These musical inter-
ludes are a bit strange, really,
because they don’t seem to fit
in with the rest of the movie.

Drunken Cat saves Golden
Swallow’s life twice, and
imparts his wisdom on her—
she must learn to observe and
not show off her martial art
skills so much. He even nurs-
es her back to health when a
poison arrow strikes her—
sound familiar? The film is
full of action, humour
(although not always intend-
ed), and plot twists. It will be
playing at the Vancouver
Film Festival, so check it out.

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