Anita 梅艷芳 (2021) Review

A first impression counts when comes to making a biopic, particularly the one that is famous and iconic. Among such people is the late Anita Mui, who died of cervical cancer at the age of 40 on December 30, 2003. The much-revered Hong Kong singer, actress and philanthropist dubbed “Madonna of the East” and “Daughter of Hong Kong” had a short but colourful life both professionally and personally. This, of course, makes her an interesting subject matter worth exploring in the form of a biopic. In fact, Edko Films boss Bill Kong originally wanted to make a biopic with Anita Mui in it. That was back in 2003 but their collaboration didn’t work out as planned after she passed away that same year.

It only took over a decade later before we finally get to see the long-overdue Anita Mui biopic on the big screen. But the journey to fulfilling the biopic wasn’t an easy path since it actually took the casting team more than 3 years to search for the right candidate to play the late Anita Mui. Edko Films eventually settled with the statuesque 31-year-old Hong Kong model Louise Wong. It was undoubtedly a huge gamble, particularly the fact she has no prior acting experience whatsoever.

I was initially sceptical about casting an inexperienced newcomer to play such a prominent figure like Anita Mui. But I’m glad Louise Wong defies the naysayers by actually pulling off the role like a seasoned pro. Not only does Wong looks identically like Anita Mui from her facial feature to her slim figure but she also successfully captured the late entertainer’s feisty and diva-like mannerism. Even her speech pattern is spot-on, almost to the point as if Anita Mui has never left us at all. Her performance — thanks largely to the late Liu Kai-Chi serving as one of her acting coaches — is one for the ages and she knows well how to display her varied emotions without succumbing to overacting. Come awards season, particularly next year’s 2022 Hong Kong Film Awards, it would be a crime not to place Louise Wong as one of the top contenders in the Best Actress nominations list.

Anita also marks the solo directorial feature for Longman Leung, best known for co-directing alongside Sunny Luk in the first two Cold War and Helios. His first time handling a biopic outside of his usual comfort zone (crime genre) is surprisingly better than I expected, which in turn, proves his range as a versatile filmmaker. Leung, who also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Cold War 2‘s Jack Ng sticks to the tried-and-true biopic formula and tell the story in an efficient way possible, detailing some of Anita Mui’s pivotal moments from her childhood during the late 60s to her death in 2003.

Here, we learn that Mui is already a child prodigy singing with her sister, Ann on the stage. The grown-up Mui (now played by Louise Wong) finally get her big break after winning a talent show in the early ’80s. Ann (Fish Liew), however, fails to advance her singing career and gradually settled down with married life. Mui’s singing talent, in the meantime, has since attracted a top record producer, Mr So (Lam Ka-Tung) and stylist Eddie Lau (Louis Koo) — both of which are responsible for grooming her into a Hong Kong superstar.

From there, Mui enjoys a meteoric rise to stardom releasing hit singles after hit singles and often performed to sold-out crowds in her concerts. She also ventured into acting, with renowned Golden Harvest producer Leonard Ho (Waise Lee) serving as her godfather. In 1988, she acted in Stanley Kwan’s Rouge alongside her best friend Leslie Cheung (Terrance Lau), which won her the prestigious Golden Horse Film Festival for Best Actress.

Apart from her professional career, Leung also covered some of Mui’s love lives including her short-lived relationship with (fictional) Japanese singer Yuki Godo (Ayumu Nakajima). In real life, Anita Mui was actually in a relationship with Masahiko Kondo. The film even includes her subsequent old flame, Ben Lam (Tony Yang), where they are together for a brief period.

Clocking at 136 minutes, which is unusually long for a Hong Kong film, I personally find the length doesn’t bother me at all. It barely feels overlong, thanks to Leung’s consistent pace and engaging direction. Instead, I find myself wishing the film can stretch longer since there are many other stories about Mui being left out (among them includes her successful on-screen collaboration with Jackie Chan in three Hong Kong blockbusters — Mr Canton and Lady Rose (1989), Drunken Master II (1994) and Rumble in the Bronx (1995).

Of course, no musical biopic would be complete without featuring some of the singer’s best and most popular songs. And here, we see Louise Wong actually performing some of Mui’s famous tunes (she reportedly underwent over 6 months of intensive singing and even learned how to dance). The combination of Wong’s singing voice with Mui’s are seamlessly integrated and it sure gives me the goosebumps watching her perform “Bad Girl” and notably, the emotionally penetrating “Song of the Sunset” on the big screen.

Anita is also a technically accomplished effort, where the large budget is put into good use, with Pater Wong’s lavish production design successfully recreated the good old days of the Hong Kong era while Dora Ng’s rich costume design deserves an equal mention too. Not to mention Anthony Pun’s gorgeous cinematography, which turns out to be among his best works to date while the editing — credited to David Richardson, Ron Chan, Cheung Ka-Fai and Yan Ting-Ting — is mostly well put together.

Louise Wong may steal the show here as Anita Mui but let’s not forget about some of her co-stars’ strong supporting turns, notably Fish Liew as her sister Ann and Louis Koo in one of his best roles as Mui’s devoted stylist, Eddie Lau. Terrance Lau, who plays the late Leslie Cheung and Tony Yang as Ben Lam, however, lack the distinctive aura that somehow fail to capture the two real-life actors’ respective personalities.

Some of the minor flaws aside, Anita is no doubt one of the best Hong Kong films I’ve ever seen this year. Louise Wong is certainly a talented actress to look forward to in the future, provided if she chooses to continue her acting career and Longman Leung’s first foray into the biopic territory turns out to be his best directorial effort so far.