Mr. Sardine
(GUOQI SHADIANYU) ((HONG KONG))
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The insecurity of life in Hong Kong today provides the prickly thematic backbone of "Mr. Sardine," a strange little comedy of mild amusement value and elusive political import. Shot independently on a low budget (about $ 300,000), pic will hold some interest for Asiaphiles with an eye on 1997 (when China takes over government of Hong Kong), but is too haphazard in its storytelling and modest in achievement to have much offshore commercial impact.
Mr. Sardine (Wong Chi Wah) is a first-class dork so klutzy he can barely manage his job as a supermarket clerk. Unaccountably, he has a girlfriend who wants to marry him, but he doesn't seem capable of a relationship with her, physically or otherwise.
Sardine has stockpiled his apartment with hundreds of cans of food and, when his crazy landlady, Mrs. Pei, dies in his flat with a stupid grin on her face, he feels responsible and bunglingly tries to dispose of the body. At the same time, Sardine must contend with the dead woman's foxy daughter, Anna, as well as with a cop who seems to have nothing better to do than pester the hapless young man.
In its portrayal of Sardine's hording and other motifs, pic takes some potshots at the island's unbridled consumer society, and the police are set up for some particularly heavy hits. Key line comes from the materialistic Anna, who says, "In this life, many things are out of our control," an obvious reference to the uncertainty of things three years hence, although how such a nerdy leading character and the death of Mrs. Pei relate to other aspects of Hong Kong remains fuzzy.
Film is occasionally lively and offers a few unexpected comic jolts, but tone never reconciles itself between broad humor and the evident anger underlying it. Pic also overstays its welcome by at least a reel.
Camera (color), Kai Shek; editor, Yiu Tin Hung; art direction, Fok Tat Wah. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival, Sept. 10, 1994. Running time: 108 MIN.
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