Thursday, June 13, 2019

Gigolo & Whore (1991)

Gigolo & Whore is a pretty low rent HK sleeze romp starring Simon Yam, Carina Lau and Alex Fong. It is also pretty fantastic.

Carina is a mainlander who has come to HK for her fortune, and seems to think the best way to do this is lying on her back. She comes to this conclusion after she meets Simon, HK gigolo par excellence, and her lunatic cousin who is already a "chicken" or prostitute. So Simon teaches Carina how to sell sex... the only snag being she's fallen in love with him.

Alex Fong, meanwhile, is depressed and Carina is called upon to wake him from his depression. This she does... but Alex falls in love with her. Then Simon realises he is in love with Carina after all. Yay!

So the story line is utter drivel. But why is this such a watchable film? For the late 1980s / early 1990s HK excess! This is a film of fast cars, booze, opportunity, sleaze and depravity. Its nostalgia for a time when you could arrive in HK with nothing and in a short time be drinking incredibly expensive brandy out of women's shoes. Which naturally happened a lot.