This movie portrays gender equality beautifully, the women haunt the background of scenes and rarely speak as they cater to men. We never leave the interior of the brothel giving it an oppressive, entrapping feel and when women are given power, its almost always at the expense of others. The setting of British control and opioid abuse also haunt the background, interweaving it into the story without making it feel superficial. I don’t know if this is true for the Cantonese original, but the subtitles only give names to the male characters, whilst the female characters names are simply translated as desirable objects. The simplistic style of the cinematography give the film an intimate tone with perfectly matches the other themes. There was a slightly missed opportunity to develop themes of class but other than that it was brilliant !!
This movie portrays gender equality beautifully, the women haunt the background of scenes and rarely speak as they cater to men. We never leave the interior of the brothel giving it an oppressive, entrapping feel and when women are given power, its almost always at the expense of others. The setting of British control and opioid abuse also haunt the background, interweaving it into the story without making it feel superficial. I don’t know if this is true for the Cantonese original, but the subtitles only give names to the male characters, whilst the female characters names are simply translated as desirable objects. The simplistic style of the cinematography give the film an intimate tone with perfectly matches the other themes. There was a slightly missed opportunity to develop themes of class but other than that it was brilliant !!
