Archive for March, 2005
That Fiery Girl
She may be the titular star, and she’s certainly the biggest name in the film, but, curiously, Cheng Pei Pei spends more than 2/3rds of That Fiery Girl standing in the background, waiting for her turn to shine. Instead of focusing on its supposed star, That Fiery Girl splits its time between two stories, leaving a whole that is much less than the sum of its parts.
Most of the film follows Mei Fengchun (Chen Liang [an alias, as the actor was from South Korea]) as he tries to avenge the death of his master, killed at the hands of the devious Han clan. Mei goes undercover, infiltrating the Han fortress as a disgruntled swordsman, looking for a weakness he and his compatriots can exploit.
In between nighttime forays, Mei falls in love with the Han chief’s daughter, Pearl (Cheng Pei Pei). Pearl is also called “Red Chili,” a more appropriate name and one that highlights her conflict—she’s a trained killer who is also a precocious, love-struck teenager. Pearl/Red Chili teeters between The Bride of Kill Bill and the star of Sweet Valley High.
Cheng Pei Pei’s mercurial shifts from puppy-dog soft to honed-steel hard get muddied by the repetitious and bland Mei Fengchun espionage story, Chen Liang was a popular Korean star (according to the bio on the DVD, at least) but his looks don’t fit with the wuxia setting and his fighting skills are best described as perfunctory.
In the film’s closing moments Cheng Pei Pei finally gets to unleash the grace and ferocity that put her on the Shaw Brothers map. If only the rest of the film gave her this freedom.
That Fiery Girl
Dir: Yan Jun
Released: July 18, 1969