Shu Qi, Karen Mok, Zhao Wei in "So Close"

In "So Close" director Corey Yuen Kwai went with his strength: whenever it made sense to the story and a few times that it didn't he went with a screen filling close-up of one of the three leads. He was right to do so--while Shu Qi, Karen Mok and Zhao Wei are talented performers they are also gorgeous and each in her own distinctive fashion. No point in trying to describe the plot since the more one explains who is doing what to whom and why they are doing it the less sense it makes--but it works well as a story on the screen. The first couple of scenes tell us that we had should not only suspend our disbelief but check it at the door. Once that is done the viewer can enjoy the car chases, gunfights, hand to hand combat, awe inspiring high tech gadgets and strong hints of Sapphic attraction. It begins with Shu Qi jumping off the top of a skyscraper and being lowered to the ground on a thin steel wire after killing an ultra-evil guy in what he thought was his impregnable fortress. She uses a perfect combination of low cunning and high fashion. The ending is Zhao Wei and Karen Mok fighting the way to the top of another skyscraper to kill an even more evil guy. They (literally in many cases) cut a path through a couple of hundred heavily armed retainers before facing the big man himself.

They know not only how to use a pistol but how to look good while doing so:

Karen Mok:

Shu Qi:

Vicky Zhao Wei:

Before this there is Shu Qi's leap into the void, wearing a jumpsuit that only a costume designer could love:

She is the picture of insouciant confidence on the way down, smiling while listening to Zhao Wei (her sister) tell her where the car will be when she lands:

Zhao Wei tries to seduce Karen Mok from across the street with a look:

There is some attraction/avoidance going on between them:

Which they were kind enough to recreate for the press while hyping the movie:

When Karen Mok and Shu Qi get together it is serious stuff but true to form they look wonderful while trying to kill each other:

Ultimate honors go to Karen Mok when two thugs dispatched by a mobster to kill her in an elevator. Not a good move on their part. That's her new assistant cowering in the background:

She obviously has the drop on them but just one look at Karen Mok's face would be enough for me to surrender:

"So Close" is a fun movie.

Karen Mok, Shanghai and elsewhere

A video of Karen Mok and Danny Boyle at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Karen Mok looks like she was born to strut on the red carpet while Danny Boyle looks a bit stiff. Actually really stiff. Things are more casual at Shanghai then Hollywood or Cannes--at 16 seconds into the video three women, possibly ticketholders looking for their seats, come through the same door that the celebrities used, begin walking straight toward the camera and then sheer off.

NOTE: Turn the sound down before playing this clip. IT IS REALLY LOUD



There is a larger copy at Karen

A few more pictures although not from Shanghai, simply because she is Karen Mok.

Saving the baby seals with the Hong Kong SPCA, pictures from the Taipei Times.
From the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, March 2009 wearing a Roberto Cavalli dress. Note that she has changed watches for each picture, probably three different models from a watch company she endorses. The patterned hose may have looked great at the awards butnot in the pictures.

Pitching her perfume line in Shanghai

A screen cap from "So Close", a movie which everyone in the world should see many times.
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One thousand thanks to duriandave for some handy and timely advice on videos.

Five or so of the sexiest Hong Kong actresses

In a recent post to his blog Asian-Cinema-While on the Road, which updates his invaluable "View From Brooklyn Bridge" Brian listed his five sexiest Hong Kong actresses since 1980. They are:
1. Chingmy Yau
2. Hsu Chi (Shu Qi herein)
3. Pinky Cheung
4. Christy Chung
5. Ellen Chan

I certainly can't argue with that list. In case anyone needs a quick refresher, here are a few pictures of each of them:

Christy Chung

Ellen Chan

Pinky Cheung

Shu Qi

Chingmy Yau

Sexiness is as subjective a category as exists anywhere and it would be possible to put together a list of five most sexy actresses without including any on Brian's list, although Shu Qi (an alternate spelling for Hsu Chi and one that is used as the primary one on the Hong Kong Movie Data Base which is the guide I follow here for romanization) might make anyone's list. I will cheat a bit and add two actresses that I find extremely sexy, Karen Mok and Carrie Ng. And, of course, Teresa Mak.

Carrie Ng was told by a make-up artist that no amount of make-up in the world would make her attractive enough for television. This is on a par with the famous report on Sophia Loren's first screen test which read, "Too tall, too big-boned, too heavy all around. The face is too short, the mouth is too wide, the nose too long..." Thank goodness that one of the the key elements of sexiness is self-confidence so that neither Carrie Ng nor Sophia Loren listened to these experts.

Karen Mok has had a much higher profile career than Carrie Ng. In addition to her film work she is a very successful singer whose live shows sell out quickly. But since she doesn't exude the risque sensuality of Carrie Ng or Pinky Cheung--who might look provocative wearing a burqa--she often doesn't make lists like this. For me she is a real knockout, more suggestive than steamy. She seems seductive without really trying to be.

Two movies that showcase several of the sexy seven: "Naked Killer", a must see for any fan of Hong Kong movies. It features Chingmy Yau who is costumed, made up, lit and shot to take full advantage of her already very striking good looks and Carrie Ng at her smoldering best. The characters they play are in rival gangs of lesbian killers for hire. Written and produced by the ubiquitous Wong Jing it is a delightfully trashy movie full of grotesque humor and beautiful women. It is every bit as strange and wonderful as it sounds.

The other is "So Close" where Shu Qi and Karen Mok begin on different sides of the law--Shu Qi is half of a pair of sisters who use high tech and low cunning to assassinate corrupt CEOs who are protected in seemingly impregnable skyscraper fortresses while Karen Mok is the tough cop in charge of stopping them but who gets framed for a murder charge and decides to join forces with the vigilante sisters. Things are sparked further by the strong but not quite carried through Sapphic attraction between Karen Mok's character and the other lovely sister, winning played by Vicki Zhao Wei, who is probably on a number of top five sexiest Hong Kong actresses herself.

Carrie Ng

Karen Mok