I don’t know how many of your have read about it or not, but a new movie has just made a big splash here in Hong Kong, and the waves are traveling around the world. It’s the first film of its kind, and the press has latched on to its unique appeal, with dozens of articles printed in even the most recognizable and respectable newspapers.
Almost every legitimate cinema in town has booked the film, including the twelve-seat, private screening rooms at the Director’s Club in Taikoo Shing. And what’s more, the first few days’ worth of show times all sold out well in advance!
In fact, people are coming to Hong Kong from all over the place just to see this movie. Chinese travel agencies are putting together package tours to bring Mainlanders down by the busload, especially over the upcoming May Day holiday, since the film itself is to be banned, or at leat heavily edited, in China.
3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, whose producers claim it to be the world’s first 3D pornographic film, opened last Thursday. And its first day revenue was the highest opening gross for a 3D film ever in Hong Kong, beating the previous record-holder, Avatar. The publicity machine designed to promote this movie has done its job well: you can hardly go anywhere without hearing people talk about it. An enormous buzz has engulfed the film, and it seems the whole city has seen it or plans on going, even respectable people who would ordinarily steer clear of something so seemingly vulgar. And I was not going to miss out on my chance to witness history in the making.
Almost every legitimate cinema in town has booked the film, including the twelve-seat, private screening rooms at the Director’s Club in Taikoo Shing. And what’s more, the first few days’ worth of show times all sold out well in advance!
In fact, people are coming to Hong Kong from all over the place just to see this movie. Chinese travel agencies are putting together package tours to bring Mainlanders down by the busload, especially over the upcoming May Day holiday, since the film itself is to be banned, or at leat heavily edited, in China.
3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, whose producers claim it to be the world’s first 3D pornographic film, opened last Thursday. And its first day revenue was the highest opening gross for a 3D film ever in Hong Kong, beating the previous record-holder, Avatar. The publicity machine designed to promote this movie has done its job well: you can hardly go anywhere without hearing people talk about it. An enormous buzz has engulfed the film, and it seems the whole city has seen it or plans on going, even respectable people who would ordinarily steer clear of something so seemingly vulgar. And I was not going to miss out on my chance to witness history in the making.
Last night, I went with some friends to the Grand Ocean cinema in Tsim Sha Tsui to catch the 8:10pm screening. And don’t think this was a spur of the moment decision… because of the film’s insane popularity, we had to book our tickets on Monday, as seats for Tuesday night’s discount screenings were going fast.
I’ve written about it before, but the Grand Ocean is possibly Hong Kong’s most impressive movie theater. Built in the 1960s, it is the last remaining genuine movie palace in the SAR. With over 1,000 seats and a single, giant screen, it’s a throwback to another era of movie-going. In the age of 12-screen multiplexes, a place like this is a wonderful change of pace. In fact, I’m pretty sure you could watch any movie in this setting, regardless of its quality, and like it.
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons I immensely enjoyed last night, but I think there were several other factors.
First of all, I hate to crush anyone’s hopes, but promoting 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy as a pornographic film is false advertising, plain and simple. We all agreed on that afterwards, at least based on our perception of what constitutes pornography.
Don’t misunderstand—there were tons and tons of topless Chinese girls running around the place. But when I think of “porn” I think of actors and actresses actually having sexual interaction, which is filmed and exhibited. Here, it was all acting, and no actual sex ever took place before the cameras. The frontal nudity was confined almost entirely to female torsos, and both male and female nudity was viewed from behind. Any nudity not mentioned in the preceding sentence was carefully obscured by sheets, props, actors and other ‘clever’ techniques. To be completely honest, plenty of other mainstream movies have shown characters engaged in sex in exactly the same way… it’s just that 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy does it more frequently throughout its duration and, to the credit of the marketing team, made it a selling point.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining about this. In fact, if the film had been the hardcore pornographic romp most people probably envisioned, I think it would have been a less enjoyable overall experience. It was almost as if the director and cast wanted to be shocking, and genuinely thought they were breaking taboos, but kept stopping far short of anything truly offensive, like children who think the word “damn” is unutterable but gleefully use it or sneak a few hours of late night television when they are supposed to be sleeping, believing they are acting truly naughty. The overall result wound up feeling almost—dare I say it?—adorably innocent. The final message viewers take away from the film, and I’m not making this up, is that sex is unimportant and abstinence just might be the key to true love! It’s more like anti-porn, if you ask me.
For all its lack of explicit sexuality, the movie had an incredible abundance of explicit violence. I was prepared for lots of sex but not for lots of blood. Brutality was the word of the day, with multiple severed limbs, intense fighting and nasty wounds. In fact, the 3D effects promised by the title came mostly from the action sequences (think flying daggers, bullets and swords) as opposed to the erotic ones, with a few glorious exceptions.
Despite this jarring violence, the film is clearly meant to be viewed as a comedy. It was entirely lighthearted throughout, even amidst all the hostilities. And some sequences were genuinely laugh-out-loud hysterical, with the whole audience in stitches. It was all told, however, in a very Chinese fashion, and by that I mean that at several moments, my group felt completely on the outside of a joke that the rest of the crowd apparently found hilarious. (We were the only Westerners in the packed house.)
I’ve written about it before, but the Grand Ocean is possibly Hong Kong’s most impressive movie theater. Built in the 1960s, it is the last remaining genuine movie palace in the SAR. With over 1,000 seats and a single, giant screen, it’s a throwback to another era of movie-going. In the age of 12-screen multiplexes, a place like this is a wonderful change of pace. In fact, I’m pretty sure you could watch any movie in this setting, regardless of its quality, and like it.
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons I immensely enjoyed last night, but I think there were several other factors.
First of all, I hate to crush anyone’s hopes, but promoting 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy as a pornographic film is false advertising, plain and simple. We all agreed on that afterwards, at least based on our perception of what constitutes pornography.
Don’t misunderstand—there were tons and tons of topless Chinese girls running around the place. But when I think of “porn” I think of actors and actresses actually having sexual interaction, which is filmed and exhibited. Here, it was all acting, and no actual sex ever took place before the cameras. The frontal nudity was confined almost entirely to female torsos, and both male and female nudity was viewed from behind. Any nudity not mentioned in the preceding sentence was carefully obscured by sheets, props, actors and other ‘clever’ techniques. To be completely honest, plenty of other mainstream movies have shown characters engaged in sex in exactly the same way… it’s just that 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy does it more frequently throughout its duration and, to the credit of the marketing team, made it a selling point.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining about this. In fact, if the film had been the hardcore pornographic romp most people probably envisioned, I think it would have been a less enjoyable overall experience. It was almost as if the director and cast wanted to be shocking, and genuinely thought they were breaking taboos, but kept stopping far short of anything truly offensive, like children who think the word “damn” is unutterable but gleefully use it or sneak a few hours of late night television when they are supposed to be sleeping, believing they are acting truly naughty. The overall result wound up feeling almost—dare I say it?—adorably innocent. The final message viewers take away from the film, and I’m not making this up, is that sex is unimportant and abstinence just might be the key to true love! It’s more like anti-porn, if you ask me.
For all its lack of explicit sexuality, the movie had an incredible abundance of explicit violence. I was prepared for lots of sex but not for lots of blood. Brutality was the word of the day, with multiple severed limbs, intense fighting and nasty wounds. In fact, the 3D effects promised by the title came mostly from the action sequences (think flying daggers, bullets and swords) as opposed to the erotic ones, with a few glorious exceptions.
Despite this jarring violence, the film is clearly meant to be viewed as a comedy. It was entirely lighthearted throughout, even amidst all the hostilities. And some sequences were genuinely laugh-out-loud hysterical, with the whole audience in stitches. It was all told, however, in a very Chinese fashion, and by that I mean that at several moments, my group felt completely on the outside of a joke that the rest of the crowd apparently found hilarious. (We were the only Westerners in the packed house.)
The story, which I didn’t think would matter at all, was much more than a simple framework for raunchy sex scenes. Believe it or not, there were several lengthy stretches without any sexual bits, leaving the plot—of all things—to carry the film. Imagine that!
Set during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the film centers on protagonist Wei Yangsheng. This sexually incompetent, newly-married scholar enters the “Pavilion of Ultimate Bliss” to develop his skills after his new bride, Tie Yuxiang, finds his sexual prowess leaves much to be desired. The nefarious Prince of Ning, who runs the orgiastic complex, is at first very sympathetic to our young hero, granting him access to the bevy of beautiful squaws who cohabitate with him in the Pavilion, to practice and learn some new techniques.
When a world-famous ‘elder sex specialist’ enters the picture, Wei is anxious to become a student to the sage instructor, but as our hero is under-endowed, he must first undergo—in one of the film’s most whimsically uproarious episodes—a penis transplant performed by two disabled, incompetent doctors.
Back at the Pavilion following a successful operation, Wei begins to uncover the ulterior motives behind the prince’s benevolence. And before long, his young bride Tie has also been implicated in a vicious battle to break free from the Pavilion and return to a peaceful life. The climactic battle to defeat the prince and save their own lives brings the film to its decades-later epilogue, where the couple finally understands the once-incomprehensible words of wisdom uttered to them on their wedding day by an elderly husband and wife, which they themselves have now become.
Despite its completely defying my preconceived notions of what I would be viewing last night, 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy managed, through its tongue-in-cheek satire, to elevate itself to something more than a dirty movie. Somehow, in some strange way, I actually felt like I’d participated in a cultural or historical event, as ludicrous as that sounds. I actually felt like I had done something significant with a free night, like when I sit through a Cantonese opera or a classical Chinese music concert. Might I even have called it, um, classy? Sure. Maybe porno-chic, to borrow a term from the 1970s, is a more apt expression.
But it was certainly an experience. We all said at the end we were glad to have seen it, not just because it’s the world's first 3D pornographic film but because it was funny and enjoyable and a good way to spend a Tuesday evening. And it was so Hong Kong.
Set during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the film centers on protagonist Wei Yangsheng. This sexually incompetent, newly-married scholar enters the “Pavilion of Ultimate Bliss” to develop his skills after his new bride, Tie Yuxiang, finds his sexual prowess leaves much to be desired. The nefarious Prince of Ning, who runs the orgiastic complex, is at first very sympathetic to our young hero, granting him access to the bevy of beautiful squaws who cohabitate with him in the Pavilion, to practice and learn some new techniques.
When a world-famous ‘elder sex specialist’ enters the picture, Wei is anxious to become a student to the sage instructor, but as our hero is under-endowed, he must first undergo—in one of the film’s most whimsically uproarious episodes—a penis transplant performed by two disabled, incompetent doctors.
Back at the Pavilion following a successful operation, Wei begins to uncover the ulterior motives behind the prince’s benevolence. And before long, his young bride Tie has also been implicated in a vicious battle to break free from the Pavilion and return to a peaceful life. The climactic battle to defeat the prince and save their own lives brings the film to its decades-later epilogue, where the couple finally understands the once-incomprehensible words of wisdom uttered to them on their wedding day by an elderly husband and wife, which they themselves have now become.
Despite its completely defying my preconceived notions of what I would be viewing last night, 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy managed, through its tongue-in-cheek satire, to elevate itself to something more than a dirty movie. Somehow, in some strange way, I actually felt like I’d participated in a cultural or historical event, as ludicrous as that sounds. I actually felt like I had done something significant with a free night, like when I sit through a Cantonese opera or a classical Chinese music concert. Might I even have called it, um, classy? Sure. Maybe porno-chic, to borrow a term from the 1970s, is a more apt expression.
But it was certainly an experience. We all said at the end we were glad to have seen it, not just because it’s the world's first 3D pornographic film but because it was funny and enjoyable and a good way to spend a Tuesday evening. And it was so Hong Kong.
