Life Is Cheap... But Toilet Paper Is Expensive
1989
Action / Comedy / Crime

Life Is Cheap... But Toilet Paper Is Expensive
1989
Action / Comedy / Crime
Plot summary
A man is hired by a group of people he believes to be gangsters to escort a briefcase from America to Hong Kong. When he arrives, however, his contact is nowhere to be found. With no further instructions, he decides to take in the sights of Hong Kong, which consist of him taking part in a great deal of blood, sex and general weirdness, all while wearing a briefcase handcuffed to his arm.
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
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an in-your-face Hong Kong postcard
a failed experiment
Director Wayne Wang's return to modern Hong Kong (the Final Frontier at the edge of China) is a scattershot quest for cultural identity in the Wild Wild East, spiced with casual displays of scatology and copraphogy (illustrating the lengths to which traditional Chinese will go to maintain face). The ersatz plot line, in which a frustrated currier fails to deliver a briefcase to a mysterious crime lord, is little more than incohesive filler interrupting a series of mock-documentary encounters with various local characters, in episodes that might have been more effective if they were genuine. Scripted cinema verité is an oxymoron, and even with directorial assistance (from writer/star Nakasaka) Wang is too polite a filmmaker for this type of narrative deconstruction. Highlights include some striking photography and editing, and an exhilarating (if pointless) chase that finally captures that elusive spark of vitality missing from the rest of the film.