Revenge: A Love Story (2010) Review

“Revenge: A Love Story” Theatrical Poster

Director: Wong Ching-Po
Cast: Juno Mak Jun Lung, Sora Aoi, Chin Siu Ho, Anthony Lau Wing, Ken Lo Hui Kwong, Tony Ho
Running Time: 111 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Most Hong Kong cinema fans hold a special place in their heart for the territories Cat III output that populated the 90’s. A heady concoction usually consisting of graphic violence, ample nudity, and a manic energy which made it impossible to take any of the 2 factors just mentioned seriously, it’s difficult to imagine such movies being made anywhere other than Hong Kong. While many fans (myself included) mourn those glory days when we took the likes of The Untold Story, Sex and Zen, Naked Killer, and Run and Kill for granted, that’s not to say the Cat III genre died out completely by the turn of the new millennium.

Sure, the Cat III label started to feel more innocuous than it did in the past, with movies like Election (and its sequel) being slapped with the rating more for the fact they were about triads than any over the top violence and nudity. However in 2010 we were gifted with what I believe are the last 2 Cat III flicks that both lived up to the expectations the rating was once associated with, and were genuinely entertaining (Herman Yau fanatics may cite 2017’s The Sleep Curse, but personally I found it an inconsistent effort). The first of those came in the form of Pang Ho-Cheung’s Dream Home, a blood splattered satire of Hong Kong’s housing woes, and the second was Wong Ching-Po’s Revenge: A Love Story.

It’s not surprising to find that both productions arrived courtesy of 852 Films, a production house setup by Josie Ho (the star of Dream Home), Conroy Chan, and Andrew Ooi. In retrospect, considering they’d also go on to produce Naked Ambition 2 and the entertaining Full Strike (badminton and aliens!), together these represent some of the final productions that truly felt like Hong Kong cinema. For their sophomore feature, Revenge: A Love Story brings together the talents of director Wong Ching-Po and Juno Mak, who’s credited for coming up with the original story and also plays the lead.

Ching-Po is one of the most distinctive directors to come out of post-2000 Hong Kong, and Revenge: A Love Story saw his return to full length features after a 5 year break, coming off the hot streak of Fu Bo, Jiang Hu, and Ah Sou, released in 2003, 2004, and 2005 respectively. Since then he’s dabbled in Mainland filmmaking with 2012’s Finding Love, but has mostly stuck to his Hong Kong roots helming Let’s Go in 2011, and remaking The Boxer from Shantung with 2014’s Once Upon a Time in Shanghai. Juno Mak on the other hand, known mainly as a singer in Hong Kong, went on to leave his mark on the HK film industry with his directorial debut Rigor Mortis in 2013, reimagining the 80’s hopping vampire genre for a new generation. As it stands in 2020, audiences await his sophomore feature, the gangster drama Sons of the Neon Night (the return of Conan Lee!) which we can hopefully see soon.

Viewing Revenge: A Love Story a decade on since its release, its difficult not to feel a sense of loss for the era when Hong Kong filmmakers could make the stories they wanted to, and not have to constrict their storytelling to ensure Mainland distribution. Ching-Po crafts a cruel tale that we’re now more accustomed to seeing come out of Korea, and it’s a quality piece of filmmaking. Similar to more recent productions like Korea’s Parasite and Japan’s One Cut of the Dead, Revenge: A Love Story is best enjoyed knowing as little as possible going into it.

The plot concerns what appears to be a serial killer (played by Mak) who is targeting cops and their pregnant wives. Not only does he murder the cop, but he also makes a point of cutting the unborn child out of the mother’s chest, ensuring nobody survives. These grizzly murders, which don’t shy away from the gruesome nature of the acts involved, make for an uncomfortable opening, and it comes as a relief when the cops begin to close in on him. Led by Chin Siu-Ho (who Mak would notably cast as the lead in Rigor Mortis 3 years later), after a brief chase Mak is apprehended and hauled off to the interrogation room, where he’s suitably roughed up (included a drawing pins to the face scene which precedes The Night Comes For Us by 8 years!). It’s here that we learn about the events that took place prior to the killings, and the narrative shifts its focus to Mak’s relationship with a mentally disabled girl, played by Sola Aoi.

While movies like the Filipino action horror hybrid Nilalang have used the presence of Japanese AV actresses purely as stunt casting to promote their product (an approach which was arguably successful), Revenge: A Love Story is a little different. Sola Aoi was one of the most popular Japanese AV actresses of the 2000’s, and had already branched into some local (comparatively) mainstream productions, clocking minor roles in the likes of Gun Crazy 4: Requiem for a Bodyguard, Memories of Matsuko, and perhaps her finest moment – the title character in Big Tits Zombie. Aoi was never intended to feature in Revenge: A Love Story, however Ching-Po was unable to find any local actresses that were willing to take on the role, and ultimately had to broaden his search to outside of Hong Kong, which led to her coming onboard.

Aoi’s casting is a notable indicator of where the Cat III genre was at the time. There’s actually little nudity on display, with arguably more on show in 90’s Cat IIB efforts like All of a Sudden, but already in the late 00’s the Mainland influence meant nudity would lead to being blacklisted (Tang Wei suffered the same fate after starring in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution). So importing stars from the Japanese AV industry, who were quite happy to be naked on camera, became the workaround, with the likes of 2008’s The Forbidden Legend: Sex & Chopsticks (and its sequel the following year) and 2011’s The 33D Invader all following the same practice. Of course a decade on and the Mainland influence is stronger than ever, meaning even this practice is now a strict no-go (although Aoi at least had a brief appearance in 2015’s Lazy Hazy Crazy).

The story that we witness during the interrogation smartly subverts everything we feel in those initial scenes, as we learn of the events that unfold following the death of Aoi’s grandmother who she lived with. Indeed it’s fair to say that Revenge: A Love Story shows a lot of ambition, at its core presenting a tale we’ve seen plenty of times before, but structuring it in such a way that keeps it fresh. Similar to Park Chan-wook’s Revenge Trilogy, Ching-Po and Mak seem to want to make a statement on how it’s a fruitless endeavour to pursue revenge, however the message is somewhat muddled by the fact that witnessing the revenge is so satisfying. Some of the death scenes have an almost Dario Argento inspired bravado about them, rather than the down and dirty ugliness that Chan-wook used to paint the acts being portrayed.

It would be a crime not to mention the cinematography of Revenge: A Love Story, which sees Ching-Po dial back the MTV styled approach of his previous features, and instead effectively applies slow motion to enhance a handful of key scenes. One scene in particular, which has Siu-Ho in pursuit of Mak through a field, reminded me of a similar scene that plays out in Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder, which is not a derogative comparison in any way. 

The inclusion of chapter cards which split the film up into 8 sections, each one with a deep and meaningful quote regarding the relationship between good and evil, admittedly feel unnecessary, almost like Ching-Po and Mak are stretching beyond their means. However these are minor gripes in what’s an uncompromising piece of work, one that challenges the audience to question how much is capable of being forgiven. Onscreen the violence plays out with the same over-the-top abandon as many of the classic Cat III favorites from yesteryear, but thematically Revenge: A Love Story wants to pose some serious questions. For some it’ll be a pairing which doesn’t sit well together, but for me, I found myself able to enjoy the splatter while also appreciating its broader ambitions. As a perfect antidote for how anemic HK cinema has become in the last decade, regardless of the fact it’s through no fault of its own, Revenge: A Love Story delivers. 

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8.5/10