Movie: 破·地獄 The Last Dance

[elusivek]

破·地獄 The Last Dance

Directed by: Anselm Chan
Screenplay by: Anselm Chan, Cheng Wai-kei
Produced by: Anselm Chan, Jason Siu, Chan Sing-yan
Starring: Dayo Wong, Michael Hui, Michelle Wai, Chu Pak Hong

Full details @ Wikipedia

A debt-ridden wedding planner inadvertently becomes a successful funeral planner. However, he must convince a traditional Taoist priest of his legitimacy to continue operating in the field.

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Oh, it's been awhile I watched a Canto movie in full. I wanted to watch this one due to my side obsession with mortuary/funeral homes. I guessed as much that the overall message of this movie would be similar to that of the Japanese movie おくりびと Departures. What I did not expect, was that I practically guessed key plot happenings, twists, heck, I scored exactly to the talking script. Predictable? Or I'm so smart haha. See I scored too where the "sales" guy sort of had an epiphany and decided to learn more about the funerary procedures.

Before going to watch the movie, so many people told me this is a super tearjerker and to bring lots of tissues and they cried right from the first scene to the end.

ugh... sorry? I'm only empathetic to dogs and cats? I dunno. Yes, I can see the heart-tugging parts, and I get the intention, but sorry, it's not doing it for me in the tears department. Even the kid part.

Tiny bit of spoiler where I wholeheartedly agree: so this "Breaking Hell" dance is done where the priest breaks some tiles signifying you breaking the "cap" (or door) of hell thus freeing the soul for reincarnation. So the "sales" guy says, "The priests free the dead souls. Us sales people free the living souls. There is hell within the living world."

As for actors, for context (I don't know much about them), Dayo Wong ("sales" guy) is a stand-up comedian. I personally think he can't act. I've seen a couple other movies of his before, and... he can't act, sorry. That's all I have to say about him... oops.

But overall this was a cool watch, even though I'm familiar with some "imported" Chinese funerary customs, I have never seen an actual full Taoist ceremony. If I have choose between the two though, Departures is still my favorite.