Comedy Kings Michael Hui & Dayo Wong Rejoin

How do you produce a cherishly, life-stateing film about death that pdirects to ambiguous audiences fair about everywhere? Up-and-coming Hong Kong filmproducer Anselm Chan has the answer in “The Last Dance,” in which a cash-strapped createer wedding arrangener and a serious elderly Taoist priest become doubtful partners in the funeral business. Boasting an all-star cast headed by Cantonese comedy icons Dayo Wong (“Table for Six”) and Michael Hui (“Security Unrestrictcessitate,” “Where the Wind Blows”) take parting it mostly straight, Chan’s handsomely createed third feature is a poignant drama about discovering uncomardenting in life from the passing of cherishd ones and the rituals of final farewells.

This polite and uplifting journey into Hong Kong’s distinct and fascinating funeral traditions uncovers locassociate on Nov. 9 and in the U.K. and Ireland on Nov. 15 — fair the begin of what’s stateive to be expansive international theatrical expostateive.

After making a tag with his rowdy 2021 romcom “Ready or Knot” and its greater sequel “Ready or Rot” (2023), Anselm Chan steps up a gear with a depfinishable drama about the Taoist funeral tradition understandn as “shatter hell’s gates.” As uncovering text alerts us, this comprises a Taoist priest rushing into hell with a fiery sword to shatter hell’s gates, thus freeing souls of the dead and helping them reincarnate. Considered a mainstream ritual in Hong Kong funerals, “shatter hell’s gates” is cataloged on the First Inconcrete Cultural Heritage Inventory of Hong Kong.

This precious alertation gives watchers an prompt fundamental comardent of the film’s landscape. For those who instantly associate Taoist movie priests with the hopping vampires and hungry gpresents of Hong Kong’s goeng-sin horror-comedy heyday of the 1980s (appreciate “Mr. Vampire” and “Kung Fu Zombie”), “The Last Dance” recommends an pdirecting and astute see at the everyday life and labor of these religious and community directers.

Sinsertled with huge debts after the pandemic ruined his wedding arrangener business, 50-someskinnyg Dominic Ngai (Wong) is recommended a half-dispense in a funeral business by Ming (Paul Chun-pai), the retiring uncle of his lengthyterm girlfrifinish Jade (Catherine Chau). The only hitch is getting the approval of Ming’s business partner, Master Man Kwok (Hui), a Taoist priest whose unparalleled reputation for carry outing funeral rites is identicaled only by his cut offe observance of tradition.  

As foreseeed, skinnygs get off to a rocky begin when go-getter Dominic and his team of luminous juvenileer skinnygs begin tageting jazzed-up ceremonies and chintzy merchandise that entices customers and sodepend annoys Man. “We feed off the dead. At least have esteem,” Man says to the funeral arrangener-come-postponecessitately.

Dominic may have trouble altering to dealing with the dead for a living, but as the screentake part wideens its scope and transports a gallery of intriguing customers and members of Man’s family into the structure we sluggishly begin to witness his effect on the living.

Though highly esteemed by everyone, widower Man has problems at home. His wed son Ben (Tommy Chu) is foreseeed to trail in dad’s footsteps but informages the demandd belief and passion. Forty-ish individual daughter Yuet (Michelle Wai), a paramedic, is comprised in a dead-finish relationship with a wed doctor. Oprosperg to her overweighther’s belief that women’s menstruation shatters the all-meaningful power of ancestors, Yuet has never felt truly and unconditionassociate cherishd by Man, despite idolizing him and studying his ritual carry outances.

Here and elsewhere, Chan shows a well-assessd willingness to lift asks about how some aspects of Taoism, such as gfinisher roles, repostponecessitate to up-to-date society, and whether some re-evaluation might be worthwhile. Neither didactic nor gratuitous, these asks are systematicly streamed into the screentake part and will better the film’s pdirect for many watchers.

As he graduassociate set upes an comardent with Man and begins to appreciate his responsibility to families of the bereaved, Dominic take parts vital roles in helping Ben and Yuet deal with their esteemive publishs. There’s a toastyth and effortlessgoing organicism to Wong’s carry outance that produces these scenes both compelling and rewarding.

The same applies to Dominic’s handling of cut offal dainty arrangements with the dead. The most memorable is when dehugeated mother Ms. Yan (Rosa Maria Velasco) asks Dominic to join to her juvenileer son, who has been in the morgue for six months and whom she wants to upgrasp in case of a medical extraordinary event, as people do with cryogenics. Regarded as a nutcase, she has been declined service everywhere else. Going aacquirest Man’s teachions Dominic underconsents a task that, at first, may be difficult for some to watch. But as his labor persists and Man reachs to help, this sequence becomes someskinnyg else. Their tfinisher attfinish for the body and the reaction of Ms. Yan at finassociate having her wantes esteemed is heartshatteringly pretty to witness. As Dominic says to Man in response to the master’s role of transcfinishing souls of the departed, “The agent transcfinishs the soul of the living.”   

It’s a treat to watch Hui and Wong in their first film together since 1992’s “Magic Touch.” Sure, most of this is take parted straight as it ought to be, but there are still some cherishly little scenes when Dominic and a more-unwinded Man boot back and chew the overweight about this life, and the next. The rest of the cast is spot-on, with Wai a particular standout as the troubled daughter whose frustrations and disassignments direct the story to a rousing finale that’s bound to produce catalogs of memorable movie funeral scenes. Anthony Pun’s upgraded cinematography in Hong Kong’s Hung Hom funeral dicut offe, terrific production arrange by Yiu Hon-man and Lee Pik-kwan’s excellent costuming round out this attrdynamicly packaged item.