Featuring a number of iconic Hong Kong actors, including protagonist Michelle Yeoh, Sammo Hung, Michael Lam and Richard Ng, “The Stunt Woman” has a very interesting premise, of following the life of a female stunt woman, in an semi-biographical path considering that Yeoh also worked in that capacity, but in the end, fails as a whole. That Yeoh was injured seriously during a stunt involving jumping off a bridge probably was one of the reasons for this, since the production had to be rushed afterwards, but the main issue here seems to be the writing and the direction. Let us take things from the beginning though.
Buy This Title
by clicking on the image below
Ah Ham, a young woman from Mainland China with expertise in kung fu and film acting, gets a job for a Hong Kong film company as a stuntwoman in action films with a unit headed by Tung, a no-nonsense director nicknamed “the Chief.” Despite the fact that accidents are an everyday occurence for the stunt crew and the antagonism among the actresses, Ah Ham experiences a significant improvement in her life, essentially becoming a member of Chief's family of stuntmen, making a lot of friends and finding a way out from the day she spent in the tiny apartment she shares with a friend. Tung's job is actually much more complicated, as he has to deal with producers, directors and gangsters, with the last endeavor eventually ending up with him in the hospital, and Ah Kam even directing a few action scenes herself.
One night, while completely exhausted, she fails to do a stunt, with Tung asking the help of a visitor, Sam, a handsome young businessman and former skating champ, who performs the stunt flawlessly. Sam falls immediately in love with Ah Kam, courting her non-stop, with the girl eventually succumbing to his woes. A bit later, he lets her know that he wants to open a bar across the border in Shenzhen with a partner from Taiwan, and wants her to quit her job and work there. A tired and repeatedly hurt Ah Kam agrees, but soon realizes that neither the job nor Sam are what she thought they were. In the last part of the movie, drama takes over, and she has to take care of the Chief's son, Ah Long, as they try to run out of Hong Kong.
Both the traits and the faults of the movie are quite evident here. The aspect/arc that involves the ways stuntmen worked in the HK movie industry is exceptional, with Ann Hui presenting the whole concept as realistically as possible, with the presence of Michelle Yeoh and Sammo Hung adding much to that regard. The dangers they had to face, since the directors seemed to have no particular concern regarding their safety, the long hours they had to train and shoot, occasionally not sleeping for days, and the little wages they made are all presented in all their brutal glory.. At the same time, the camaraderie, the friendships, and the having fun over drinks is also highlighted, with Hui making a point of showing that the crews actually formed families, with Tung, in this case, having the role of the father. That this aspect, along with the action scenes, both in and out of the movie sets, permeates the three arcs, works excellently for the film, also due to Ching Siu-tung's action choreography and the placement of these sequences within the narrative.
As the movie strays away from this part, though, the quality deteriorates. In that regard, the romantic middle part, with the waning relationship between Ah Ham and Sam lingers between the cheesy and the cliche, only being saved, partially, by Michelle Yeoh's quite convincing acting, particularly in the way she reluctantly falls for the handsome young man, the lies she says to her crew to hide the circumstances of her work in the bar, and the moment she finally erupts, even if briefly. Even worse, though, is the last part, with the Chief's ending being rather abrupt, and the escape to China appearing quite rushed, and having very little to do with the rest of the movie, only being explained from the insistence of Ann Hui to deal with various kinds of refugees in her filmography.
On the other hand, the film is quite well-shot throughout, with Ardy Lam's cinematography capturing the different settings with the same artistry and realism, with the movie sets and exterior shots in particular being quite intriguing to watch. The scenes in China are also very good, with the drama and overall melancholy that permeate them handled excellently from the point of view of the visuals. Wong Yee-shun's editing is also accomplished, inducing the movie with a relatively fast pace that suits the action aspect quite nicely, although with the way the story unfolds, this department ends up being faulty, particularly in the transitions from one arc to another.
“The Stunt Woman” emerges as a movie that looks as if it started to be something specific, but as time passed lost its way, dwelling in paths that do not have much to do with each other. As such, it is definitely worth a watch for the presentation of the lives of stuntmen and the action scenes, but not for the rest of its narrative elements.
