Mrs K
Description
Kara Wai, known in her younger days as a Shaw Brothers Studio kung-fu master, returns to kick some bad-guy butt as the titular hero of Ho Yuhang’s action-packed extravaganza with Spaghetti Western leanings. As the film opens, three scuzzy fellows are offed in quick succession. They turn out to have a connection to a revenge-seeking madman (played by Election superstar Simon Yam) as well as to Mrs K. At first seen as a mild-mannered housewife married to a successful gynecologist (Taiwanese rock star Wu Bai), she reveals some of her true colors when set upon by a pair of bumbling burglars. Matters soon escalate as it becomes clear that Mrs K has a dark and perhaps criminal past that she has tried to keep hidden from her family. But when an ex-cop blackmails her and her daughter is kidnapped, the gardening gloves come off, and Ho’s film kicks into high gear. With flashbacks involving a Macau casino heist and a bone-crunching sequence where Mrs K tackles numerous evildoers, the stakes continue to climb as does the body count. Besides featuring several terrific kung-fu sequences and a dizzying plot that recalls Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Mrs K also reflects Ho’s affection for the spaghetti Western by having all of the characters unnamed and a memorable score that recalls classic work by Ennio Morricone. —Rod Armstrong
Ho Yuhang was born and raised in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, and graduated with a degree in engineering from Iowa State. In 2006, his film Rain Dogs was selected as the first Malaysian film to play at the Venice Film Festival. He first teamed up with Kara Wai in 2009’s At the End of Daybreak, which won the NETPAC prize at the Locarno Film Festival. Regarding his filmmaking career he says, “It was an accident. I didn’t want to live my whole life as an engineer so I quit my job and gambled in something else … I could have failed miserably. Now I failed less miserably, so it’s not so bad.”
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/207678914?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Cantonese, Mandarin, Malay
Year 2016
Premiere North American
Runtime 97
Country Hong Kong, Malaysia, China
Director Ho Yuhang
Producer Lina Tan, Albert Lee, Lorna Tee, Ho Yuhang
Writer Ho Yuhang, Chan Wai-keung
Editor Soo Mun Thye, Sharon Chong
Cinematographer Teoh Gay Hian
Music Fugu
Cast Kara Wai, Simon Yam, Wu Bai