KITCHEN lit.tr. I LOVE [THE] KITCHEN
(Hong Kong, 1997)
Jeffery Chen
Directed by: Yim Ho
Presented by: Golden Harvest (Hong Kong) Limited & Amuse Inc.
Produced by: Pineast Pictures Limited & Harvest Crown Limited.
Screenplay by: Yim Ho
Adapted from a novel by: Banana Yoshimoto
Director of Photography: Poon Hang Sang
Cast: Yasuko Tomita (AGGIE), Jordan Chan (LOUIE), Karen Mok (JENNY), Law Kar Ying (EMMA), Lo Koon Lan (CHIKA), Lau Siu Ming (MR. CHIU)It comes as an initial surprise that Hong Kong's Yim Ho would choose to undertake a film project based on Banana Yoshimoto's international bestseller, KITCHEN, which was a sparse narrative based on the intricate interaction between a few individuals set i n a modern cityscape. Yim, who has managed to maintain his auteur status amidst the highly commercialised Hong Kong film industry, has been known for a historical and epic visual style with films which were made mainly in mainland China such as RED DUST ( 1990) and THE KING OF CHESS (1991). In recent years, Yim has made films which questioned giant themes such as morality, justice and human nature in dramas set in rural China: THE DAY THE SUN TURNED COLD (1994) and THE SUN HAS EARS (1996). On the other han d, author Yoshimoto has been accused by countless detractors as a fashionable literary lightweight, in full contrast to Yim's penchant for Dostoevskian material. (There are even web pages dedicated to "Banana Bashing".)
But KITCHEN reveals that the director has not strayed away from his exploration of the complexities of the human condition. Rather, he has merely shrunk from his usual scale of production and zoomed right into the dynamism of human interaction. Unlike man y films based on literary works, Yim, who wrote the screenplay, succeeded not only in transposing the work into the film medium but also in strengthening the narrative with much creative input. More importantly, he instilled a personal reading of the sour ce material to an extent which enables the film to stand on its own rather then being a recycled rendition of its source.
Yim's KITCHEN opens with a beautiful sequence of rainfall and the subsequent emergence of a woman's face from the water surface. It is written on the screen in handwritten script: "to my aggie: planet earth has only one woman." This sequence alludes to th e Greek myth of the birth of Aphrodite and adds a profound sense of classicism to the film. As Louie's voice is heard over the sequence, we have already been led quite unknowingly into his mindscreen to sneak a peek at his perception of Aggie as his sole object of love.
The film contains a rich collection of imageries and sub-textual elements. The moon is a recurring metaphor signifying a sense of loss. Deeply depressed by her grandmother's death, Aggie climbs on top of a shelter in a park and tries to hold the moon in h er hands. After that night, she sleeps for three whole days before awakening. With a close-up shot of her shining eyes, Yim hints that Aggie has finally managed to recover her loss. With the moon in her eyes she finally breaks her silence after her grandm other's death and gradually comes to understand that she would have to carry on with her own life. It is also interesting to note that it is Teresa Teng's "The Moon Represents My Heart" which was playing on the car stereo during Emma and Mr. Chiu's date. This serves not only as a foreshadowing of Louie's lost of Emma (or vice versa) but also tells of her longing for a lost object of love.
One of the most memorable scene of the film is the one where Mr. Chiu stabs Emma in the club after learning that she is a transexual. Yim uses repeating and overlayered motion to have him stab her over and over again through one single wound thus heighten ing the tragedy of the murder, leaving the audience to struggle with the seemingly absurd poignancy of it all. But later when we hear Emma's letter which she wrote to Louie before her death, we see that her death at the hands of Mr. Chiu was really meant to be. In the letter, Emma tells Louie about her intuition of her death at the hands of Mr. Chiu. But she seems to be unanxious about it and would rather leave things to fate. She is one who brims with optimism for life setting her opposite Mr. Chiu's fru stration with life. The former sees life as one big lesson which she has to learn. Everything, right down to being a woman is a worthy learning experience for her. Mr. Chiu, on the other hand, complains that everything is just a stressful problem. The nar rative is skillfully balanced as they both even themselves out in their deaths leaving behind the living, Aggie and Louie, to form a new union of love from the debris of loss and despair.
The element of food serves as a form of healing in the film. But unlike the contrived Mexican film LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE a few years ago, the theme is incorporated with great sensitivity into the narrative here to prevent it from falling into pretentio usness. Aggie, who has an acute sense of smell, starts to take on the role of the healer after her experience of the loss of a loved one. Her excellent culinary skills have always been able to cheer people up in the midst of despair. At a restaurant, Aggi e introduces herbs to Chika, who has been grieving about Emma's death, helping her regain her appetite. Knowing of Louie's depression, she orders take-away and flies immediately to China to deliver her prescription. Yim's portrayal of this reveals a touch of tender romanticism and humour which is rare in his past films.
Anyone who has read Banana Yoshimoto 's novel would have suspected the possibility of transporting its idiosyncratic characters to the screen without them appearing contrived. But with a highly controlled narrative and a restraint of direction of the cast , Yim is able to convince us that these characters can be living amongst us. One could not possibly imagine how commedian Law Kar Ying's casting as the transexual mother would work. It is true that Law appears out of place as a woman initially but before you take any notice he has won us over with his subtle and appealing portrayal. When you feel a tremendous sense of loss at her tragic death, you come to realise that Yim was right in his choice all along.
The rest of the players also gave very commedable performances. Yim has chosen all his cast members so well that they fit into their roles with little effort, resulting in an understated overall performance that compliments the mood of the film. He has al so demonstrated his proficiency in the language of film in his being able to control and manipulate the stylistics to great advantage. A shining achievement is his use of mainly tight shots throughout the film. This creates an intimacy which forces the vi ewer closer to the idiosyncracies of his characters and ignites one's desire to know them.
With the common themes of loneliness and the existential crisis experience, comparision with the more prolific Wong Kar Wai, would no doubt be drawn by many. It seems that Yim is proving that he is also able to appeal to the young and hip crowd with a fil m closer to their experiences. But unlike Wong whose films are crammed with jarring stylistic techniques, Yim makes new meaning through the most cliched of tools in film langauge. In terms of perspectives, Yim tries to provide answers (which in this film, he does) rather then indulge in the dark pit of self-imposed depression.He has presented to us a sincere and poetic film which is small in scale but large in thematic content, dealing with the heavy theme of life and death with light-heartedness and a qu irky humour. Truly, it is an ode to the power of human love in healing the soul in the midst of utmost loss and despair.
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