Director Herman Yau puts aside for a moment the social and political themes that often are the backbone of his films to dedicate his time to “Nessun Dorma”, an exercise in the noir genre which is a bit pulp and rather disposable. The film takes inspiration for its title from the Puccini's opera Turandot, as Nessun Dorma is the famous aria from its final act, but it has very little to do with the events of the opera itself.
Jasmine (Janice Ma) is a beautiful and young Hongkonger who runs a cheerful shelter for abandoned dogs – probably just out of passion given her luxurious standard of living – and is about to marry Vincent (Gordon Lam), a wealthy and famous businessman. We can guess that Vincent is famous from magazine covers portraying the couple and from constant references to lurking paparazzi and journalists but it is never clear why he is so famous. On the contrary, it is immediately very clear that Vincent is a great pig and that behind the unaware fiancée's back he has set up a rich circle of prostitutes and illicit trafficking. At the beginning of the film, we find the couple at the theatre with their respective parents, a few days before the wedding, attending the Puccini's opera Turandot.
After the show, the couple parts and Jasmine, once home, finds an envelope signed by Fong Mo Chit. She immediately gets back in the car and rushes to the sender of the letter (Andy Hui) who – we now understand – is a lover she has put aside in view of her prestigious wedding. Jasmine tries to explain herself (there is very little to explain, actually) but Fong is firm in not wanting to continue to suffer for her and the two split up. The night is dark and stormy (!) and on the way home Jasmine is stunned and kidnapped by a masked man. When she wakes up, she is naked, tied to a bed in a soundproofed room with a blinding electric light and the Nessun Dorma aria on a loop at full volume. From here the events begin to get complicated and will present few twists before getting to the grand finale, not really shocking or surprising if you are just a tad shrewd!
Given that the director is very prolific (in 2016 he produced “The Mobfathers”, “Nessun Dorma”, “The Sleep Curse” and “Shock Wave” almost simultaneously) and that reviewer is very fond of him, this film is definitely a step back from the previous “The Mobfathers”. There are always lots of expectations when Herman Yau releases a Cat III film, mainly based on his best efforts in that field, like “The Untold Story” and “Ebola Syndrome”, but “Nessun Dorma” is a sort of hybrid in this regard as it had a festival run in its uncut Category III version, but a tamer, edited version was created for the film's theatrical release. On the edge between exploitation and noir, it never fully goes on one side of the other, and even a possible discourse about victims of rape and their struggle to report the abuse is left undeveloped in favour of a revenge plot. It must be said that the kidnapping and raping scenes are handled with tact, thanks to clever point of view, bed knobs in strategical positions and a blurry glaring light.
The screenplay, written by his frequent collaborator Erica Li from her own novel, is enough to keep the film on its feet but it certainly cannot be described as solid or exciting and, frankly, it is full of oversights on small details that – even if secondary – end up making the whole thing a bit clumsy and not completely believable. Where have you ever seen a bride who gets her wedding dress fitting only two hours before the wedding? And when, in a passionate love affair, after having wild sex in the shower, the woman wears sombre pyjamas and they both go to sleep in two separate single beds? Moreover, how sloppy and cheap is to use the trivial trick of making two secondary characters look involved all of a sudden, and then abandoning them completely?
Jasmine's character is noticeably weak, and Janice Ma doesn't do much to redeem it, there is only one moment in which she seems to turn into a real noir protagonist, a femme fatale, but unfortunately it is only a fleeting moment and, in all honesty, not very convincing. Sadly, more than poor Janice Ma, it's the script again is to blame for this mess; you would hope a female screenwriter could have built a female character with a proper personality and few more nuances! On the other hand, you can always count on Gordon Lam and in fact he delivers a decent bad guy with the usual professionalism. Andy Hui is not particularly impressive but let's say that he looks good when half naked.
“Nessun Dorma” is a film with a defective script, watchable but also easily forgotten. I would like to think that it was executed with part of the mind absorbed by more challenging projects, possibly the “Shock Wave” movie with mega-star Andy Lau that Yau was filming that same year, hoping the director will have another go at reviving the noire genre in Hong Kong cinema.
