A footnote from the end of one era of Hong Kong cinema, and the dawn of the next…
As a film, Behind the Yellow Line is little more than a footnote from the fag end of the Shaw Bros. output as a movie studio. It is the cast list which makes it more important, making it a cinematic interchange with the next era of Hong Kong cinema.
Paul (Leslie Cheung) is trying to get to his new job, and after his taxi is taken from him, he rushes to use the MTR (Hong Kong’s Underground Rail network). He chances upon the beautiful Monica (Maggie Cheung), and is immediately smitten. Monica herself is struggling to deal with her breakup from an affair with a married man. To give us a love triangle, Paul himself has an admirer, the loud and brash Anita (Anita Mui). Paul and Monica do eventually become a couple, but their relationship is one of great difficulty – Paul is jealous of the attentions of both Monica’s ex-lover and her new Boss, whilst Monica herself is struggling to work out where her heart lies. It all leads up to a chase around the MTR to see if the pair are actually fated to be together.
As a film, Behind the Yellow Line is at once a bit of a mess, but also a charming example of the nature of early 1980’s Hong Kong Cinema. Whilst the general idea of the romantic destiny of Paul and Monica is fairly standard, it is beset by some utterly random moments for comic effect. Take for example Paul’s driving lesson – it is somewhat amusing, but has no bearing on the plot before or after the event.
The real draw of the film is in the stars. This is Maggie Cheung’s first leading role since becoming 1st Runner up in the Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant. She’s perfectly fine, and clearly attractive, but I think it is fair enough to say that her acting skills that will one day lead her to the arthouse movies of Wong Kar-wai and a Cannes film festival Best Actress award are not obviously apparent.
It is hard to explain to a Western audience quite what a star Leslie Cheung was going to become not just in Hong Kong, but in Mainland China and across Asia. For a period he was a critical and popular success in both music and acting. Here he is charming enough, but it won’t be a role he is remembered for.
For Anita Mui, this was her breakthrough acting role. Already a beloved chanteuse (known as ‘The Madonna of Asia’), her wacky character here won her local acclaim, and would set her up for a number of future roles (although she is probably better remembered for more quiet and measured performances – even if her comedic turn in ‘Justice, My Foot’ actually outshines that of Stephen Chow). She owns every scene she appears in during this film though.
This however is really the problem with the film. If it wasn’t for one scene where she interacts with Paul’s parents, you could make an argument that she was some kind of imaginary representation of a goddess of fate (the films Chinese title is actually Yuen Fan, which translates to destiny or fate). Instead she seems to just appear when the film needs some humour or to move the plot in the desired direction. The character just falls in and out of the movie, and we never really understand what or who she is. It could be she is playing a fictional version of herself. But I honestly have no idea.
The humour is also going to be a challenge to outsiders – most of the jokes seem to be based on Cantonese wordplay that simply does not translate. So it is the slapstick and scenarios that are presented that luckily make the film worthy of a giggle or three. The one English joke is when Leslie Cheung is called ‘Paul Simon’ – a reference which may well have been culturally relevant in 1984, but not so much to a contemporary audience. I might have smiled at the cameo by Alfred Cheung, but I doubt most Westerners will.
It’s not a great film; in fact it is barely a good one. Behind the Yellow Line captures a moment in time. A new era of Hong Kong Cinema was about to start. And the three principles here were going to be a big part of that. Sadly, whilst many of the other people who were going to be part of this period are still going strong, these three are not. Maggie Cheung basically retired from acting after 2004’s Clean. Anita Mui would tragically die of cervical cancer in late 2003. Leslie Cheung would take his life, also in 2003, deciding to end his internal struggles with his bisexuality. It is worth watching to see the early days of three justifiable legends, but I promise you – all three have a much richer body of work for you to discover.
