Hidden Passion (1991)

AKA San ji qiang wei zhi lian.

Apparently there are a few movies with the same name in English - one from the next year no less, and all with similar plots, so maybe good to mention the original; possibly unique title too.

The plot, via IMDB presented in precise, somewhat entertainingly descriptive albeit not perfect English: There is hidden passion galore as a plain middle aged house wife looks after her wheel chair bound husband who has lost interest in sex. Her young slutty niece, who dresses provocatively wearing thigh high boots, comes to stay with them. There is a nerdy young neighbour who lusts after our Mrs Robinson and of course the ubiquitous local shop keeper who lusts after our young hero for some unknown reason and is a chunky Korean looking actress. The movie is set in the boondocks of HK away from the picturesque city towers that we come to associate with all HK crime melodramas and moves toward ts inevitable finale.

...and that's about it! It's a slice of life movie about an unusual family scenario where focus is placed mainly on the sex part of their life.

It starts playful and ordinary, but gets more and more intense the further it goes. Towards the end I'm wondering if there's any way there could be so much sexual intrigue between people in real life, if some cultures are just so much more sexual than others (this isn't even Japan), and if maybe modern culture is depriving us of the situations where such things happen, what with the Internet now giving anyone direct access to whatever content they crave, without leading them to find more touchable outlets for their passions. Like we're getting out of touch with the real world.

Whichever is the case this was a surprisingly well-made movie for the type, with pretty authentic acting and, as the title promises: passion. Plenty of it. It's neither a particularly uplifting or particularly depressing story overall, just one of those that follows the fates of a selected few, and then leaves them be. How they move on isn't for us, but we did share some good moments.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle