In America, doing what Andy Lau does in Hong Kong movie trade satire “The Film Emperor” would seemingly internet him an Oscar nomination. Or at the very least an MTV Film Award. Or perhaps simply the admiration of his friends, contemplating how few stars are keen to poke enjoyable at their very own picture, a lot much less entertain the query of what would possibly occur if their followers have been to activate them tomorrow.
Reteaming with “Loopy Stone” director Ning Hao for an ultra-polished, good-sport parody of A-list self-importance, Lau performs Dany Lau — not fairly himself, however a megastar of roughly his personal stature. The film is loaded with inside jokes, however like French sequence “Name My Agent,” it should not have any bother translating across the globe. Between Lau’s worldwide standing — bolstered by roles in every little thing from “Infernal Affairs” to “A Easy Life,” plus a Cantopop singing profession — and the script’s deft method of contextualizing a few of its finest jokes.
Dany Lau shouldn’t be learn as Andy Lau a lot as an amalgam of assorted high Hong Kong stars, together with Tony Leung and Stephen Chow, all of whom share one factor in frequent with Hollywood heartthrobs: The whole lot they’ve strived so laborious to construct might be snatched away instantly. That chance has by no means appeared extra intimidating than it does within the age of social media. Dany has no enterprise managing his personal profile, which ends up in a sequence of simply avoidable mishaps.
That will sound like fodder for an easy-target sketch comedy, however Hao goals increased, capturing the movie within the model of a crisp, meticulously composed Ruben Östlund film like “The Sq..” “The Film Emperor” is cinema, designed to be screened on the largest potential display screen, as DP Wang Boxue constructs every shot the best way Jacques Tati might need: from such a distance that every location begins to really feel dehumanized and absurd — as when Dany attends the Hong Kong Movie Awards.
At what seems to be the precise kudocast, he’s not solely snubbed for finest actor, however subjected to the indignity of accepting the trophy on behalf of “Jackie Chen,” who didn’t even trouble to point out up. In Hong Kong, as in Hollywood, actors are celebrated for “critical” roles, and Dany’s mistake (he thinks) is that he hasn’t performed a peasant in a self-important art-house film. “In Chinese language movies, it’s all about cotton padded jackets,” explains director Lin Hao (performed by Hao) at a wardrobe becoming the place Dany tries on the uniform of stereotypical salt-of-the-earth Chinese language farmers (primarily the safer model of the “Easy Jack” joke in “Tropic Thunder”).
Dany ought to have acknowledged this new half was patronizing (festivals might flip, however “sticks nix hick pix,” to cite a traditional Selection headline), simply as he ought to not have solicited product placement from an electrical automobile firm for such a mission. However pushed by one thing between dedication and a deep-seated inferiority complicated, Dany doesn’t cease there. He locates a real mainland farmer and researches his mannerisms for max authenticity. Dany rejects a rig that simulates horse driving, insisting as a substitute on doing his personal stunts, and he even goes so far as to undertake a pig.
After all, each step backfires in an enormous method, to the purpose that Dany’s being canceled by animal rights activists over the horse scenario (that plot level lands awfully near what occurred to Hao after video surfaced of a canine being mistreated on his movie “Loopy Alien”). His half-hearted try to apologize on a celeb speak present solely digs him in deeper. Off-camera, he has much more issues. Dany’s discreetly attempting to divorce the spouse (Kelly Lin) he swore to secrecy — lest his followers lose curiosity — whereas trying thus far a younger feminine promo director (Rima Zeidan).
In a working gag, Dany is frightened of being filmed unawares, so each time he sees a blinking pink mild, he overreacts, which leads him to smash the windshield of a random van whose dashcam units him off. “The Film Emperor” doesn’t take a place on AI, however nearly all different new expertise conspires to oppress Dany, from the autonomous resort robots to a health app that’s consistently reminding the health-conscious star to train. Little by little, these annoyances pile up till such level that his complete life appears to be in freefall — like a pig dropped from a Forty third-floor balcony.
By the point a battle royale breaks out on the set of his Chinese language peasant mission, Hao has so efficiently melded lowbrow humor with the movie’s in any other case respectable tone that he can get away with such madness. One among his cleverer methods entails letting the digital camera linger on one thing upsetting within the body after a scene has wrapped, like information reviews of an precise catastrophe or a sketchy colleague (Pal Sinn) hitting on a youthful feminine assistant. Dany Lau’s so self-involved, he’s oblivious to such “actual world” points, however “The Film Emperor” has extra on its thoughts, making it one of many 12 months’s savvier satires.
