52 Films by Women Vol 7. 5. MAMA'S AFFAIR (Director: Kearan Pang)
Mention Hong Kong
cinema to many cinemagoers and they might think of action films, particularly
the work of John Woo, Johnny To and, in a lighter vein, Stephen Chow, or else the
arthouse romances directed by Wong Kar-Wai. They won’t necessarily cite a
melodrama featuring two members of the Cantopop boy band, ‘Mirror’. The latter
is Mama’s Affair, written and directed by Kearan Pang (29 + 1) which tells the story of a woman, Mei-Fung (Teresa Mo) undergoing a
shameful divorce who takes on as a protégé, Fong Ching (Keung To) a charming
waiter from a local café, much to the annoyance of her seventeen year-old son,
Hin (Jer Lau). This is a generic but
enjoyable and unexpectedly moving drama about following your talent and second
chances. For Fong Ching, it is about having a mother for the first time in
years, someone who he trusts and honours. Hin, by contrast, hides his true self
from his mother, ostensibly planning to study at Cambridge University, England
to be an architect. He has a flair for the theatrical, winning a trophy with
ribbons for his High School show, ‘Future Future’ (for which he is billed as
Jonathan Lo – confusing, but no matter). However (somewhat unrealistically),
his mother doesn’t go into his room to check out his silverware collection.
Before she became a
devoted wife and mother – as the latter, insisting on feeding Hin and driving
him to school, even though he would prefer that she didn’t – Mei-Fung worked
for a record label. ‘You’re the Mei-Fung thanked on hundreds of records,’ she is
told later on by an awestruck young person unaware that she nurtured talent.
However, after working too hard and suffering a miscarriage, she gave it all
up. With her son about to leave home, she takes a job in a music and dance
studio for young people. During one of her first days at work, she sees a young
mother bring her (by conventional standards) chubby son for piano classes. The
boy is distraught. ‘I want to do dancing,’ he pleads. His mother insists that
if he dances, people will laugh at him. Just at that moment, Fong Ching walks
in with a delivery. ‘Just one moment,’ he tells the mother, taking the boy by
the hand. ‘Have you shown your mother your moves?’ The boy shakes his head.
Fong Ching takes the boy into a dance studio and asks him to follow his lead.
He does so enthusiastically and with flair. His mother is impressed. ‘How do I
sign up?’ she asks. Mei-Fung is more impressed by Fong Ching, whom she learns
had won a singing contest and was brought up by his aunt following the death of
his parents. She meets him at his place of work, asking what’s good there (Fong
Ching recommends an egg cake). She mentions her connections.
Visiting her old
employer, she meets a young man whom she helped achieve promotion – now he is a
CEO. Mei-Fung may be outside the industry, but she still has respect. So has Kearan
Pang, who served as a judge on the show King Maker III, and
clearly has boy band members in her contacts list.
First, Mei-Fung has
to convince industry folk that Fong Ching can sing. She brings him to her house
for Karaoke, allowing a producer to listen in as Fong Ching performs the song
that won him the talent contest. A Hong Kong audience is ahead of the movie; of
course Fong Ching/Keung To carries a tune. This is what they have come to see.
But what about Jer Lau? ‘I don’t sing,’ he says at one point in a
self-deprecating manner. In this film, the audience get to watch him act.
Hin’s father is
rarely home. When he appears, he refuses the soup that Mei-Fung has made for
him. Mei-Fung’s marriage is over. As we discover later, her husband has moved
in with Auntie Sarah, who Mei-Fung recommended for a job with her husband. She
is now pregnant – and there’s no turning back.
As Mei-Fung brings
Fong Ching to a recording studio, we might think, what about her new job? Isn’t
she supposed to be helping out at the dance studio-performing arts centre? Of
course, colleagues who work with Mei-Fung succumb to awe. Fong Ching records a
song. His career begins.
Gradually, Hin’s
schoolfriends learn that his mother is managing the growing teen sensation that
Fong Ching has become. Fong Ching may have told everyone he is an orphan, but
his father (Wing Cheong-Law) has been released from jail after nine years. Mr Fong
was involved in a drunk driving accident that killed both Fong Ching’s mother
and the other driver. Now he seeks forgiveness. Fong Ching struggles to contain
his rage, but the dam of anger and pain bursts. He strikes his father and
screams, ‘you took my mother away from me. I want her back.’ Fong Ching’s aunt
may be pleased to welcome her brother, but Fong Ching moves out.
Mei-Fung offers Fong
Ching her spare room. Hin is not thrilled, but rather simmers. His anger, when
it emerges, is more focussed on his mother hiding her divorce from him. Fong
Ching, by contrast, is touched by the offer of a room. ‘It is a long time since
I slept in a room of my own,’ he tells her.
In the west, the
veneration of Mother is not something taken for granted. In Hong Kong, respect
is a given. Fong Ching’s view of Mei-Fung isn’t something western audiences are
pre-disposed to take at face value. There are no Oedipal feelings here, rather
a strong cultural understanding of the role that a mother plays. Fong Ching
doesn’t test boundaries or seek an alternate father figure, as you might see in
other cultures. Rather, he seeks to avoid cultivating the weakness and
self-loathing displayed by his own father.
Both Jer Lau and Keung To are members of the same pop band.
Their on-screen rivalry is tempered by off-screen unity. They face each other
over the family dining table with an aquarium in the background. Water is a
signifier of female sexuality, so the aquarium is more a statement indicating
the product of such sexuality, the beautiful and exotic fish inside. In Robust,
the male protagonist smashes such an aquarium in an explosion of loneliness. An
aquarium is also a not very subtle visual metaphor for containment. Bottling up
feelings is something characters here do all too frequently.
The comedy dinner table scene, with the frisson of tension
between Hin and his mother’s house guest, builds further. Hin’s friends want to
study at his house, but Fong Ching is there. Hin requests that Fong Ching stays
in his room, knowing that he will be the centre of attention should he make
himself known. During the study session (with pizza), Hin receives a message.
Fong Ching needs to use the bathroom. Hin distracts his friends by drawing
their attention to a naked woman in the building opposite. They rush to look
and are naturally disappointed. One of the friends says she needs to use the
bathroom. Hin directs her to his mother’s en suite facility. Another
friend wants to use the bathroom. ‘It must be the pizza,’ he cries. He rushes
to the bathroom occupied by Fong Ching. Hin expects Fong Ching to be
discovered, but the friend says nothing, instead apologising for the stink that
he left behind. After they leave, Hin rushes to the bathroom and discovers Fong
Ching hiding in the shower behind a curtain holding his nose.
Fong Ching’s fame builds. Hin is appalled to read in
magazine details of his mother’s divorce. Why is there so much in it about his
family? A restaurant meal with Mei-Fung
is interrupted by fans seeking selfies. Outside there is a large group seeking
pictures. Mei-Fung steps out into the road and is almost hit by a car. Fong
Ching is shocked. They get into the car and speed away, but we feel the
reminder of Fong Ching’s painful loss.
Plans are made for a big concert and at one point, Mei Fung
stops the car to show Fong Ching the poster for his show (the English word
‘Once’ in block capitals features prominently). Fong Ching is both astounded
and mesmerized. Moreover, Fong Ching receives interest from Korea. He will only
go there if Mei-Fung accompanies him.
When Mei-Fung and Fong Ching meet with the Korean music
company, both of them notice Mei-Fung’s ex-husband arrive at the restaurant
with the aforementioned Auntie Sarah. Mei-Fung says nothing, but Fong Ching
notices her discomfort. He asks to leave the table for a moment. By the end of
the meeting, the couple are nowhere to be seen. Fong Ching asked them to move.
Hin’s anger with his mother and with Fong Ching steadily
grows. He faces the singer at the beach. When Hin mentions Fong Ching’s lack of
parents, a fight ensues, a wrestling tussle between two young men carrying
surplus emotions. Fong Ching mentions that he asked Mei-Fung to join him on his
trip to Korea and eventually reveals that she refused. Meanwhile, Mei-Fung
calls on Mr Fong and collects from him a box of unread letters, sent while he
was in prison. Fong Ching is given the box, sealed with a ribbon. He opens it
and cannot stop reading.
The chubby kid who followed Fong Ching’s dance lead gets two
call backs, seen in the crowd during one recording, then at the climactic
concert. Mei-Fung is backstage as Fong Ching prepares. Once he steps out on
that stage, there will be no turning back. Though he cannot see him, he
addresses his father in the crowd: ‘I hope you like what you see.’ He performs
a self-penned composition. I wondered whether Fong Ching used his father’s
letters as inspiration for the lyrics, but then there might be copyright issues.
In a postscript, Mei-Fung sits down next to Hin to watch a
reprise of the High School ‘Future Future’ show that he directed. There is the
sense that she will attend to show-business matters closer to home.
From a parental perspective, this story of pride and
sacrifice resonated – I’m not sure younger viewers would be equally moved.
Since its release in Hong Kong on 11 August 2022, it has grown an affectionate
audience. It is now in its third week of release on UK cinemas, coasting on
strong word of mouth. One reviewer described it of being of interest to fans of
boybands only. I say, not so.
Reviewed at Cineworld O2 Centre, North Greenwich, London, Screen Fifteen, Tuesday 30 August 2022, 19:15 screening
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