He’s A Woman, She’s A Man (金枝玉葉) is a Hong Kong movie that was released on 23rd July 1994.
About
Sam announces a country-wide male-only talent search so they can achieve stardom and international acclaim. Wing, who is desperate to meet her idols, is a female who dresses as a man to enter the contest.
Leslie Cheung
We didn’t really know who Leslie Cheung was prior to watching this movie, I felt quite ashamed that I didn’t. We had this DVD for a long time but failed to watch it until now. It just so happened to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the passing of Leslie Cheung. He was born Cheung Fat-chung in Kowloon, studied in the UK from the age of 12, returned to Hong Kong and in 1990 became a Canadian citizen living here in Vancouver, British Columbia. He said that it’s easy for him to have a relationship with both a woman or a man. He had relationships with both but the one prior to his passing was with childhood friend Daffy Tong Hok-tak from 1997 thru 2003. He was diagnosed with clinical depression and sadly committed suicide by jumping off the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. However, his music (Cantopop) and films endure to this day. There are many articles on the internet to learn about Leslie and his music is everywhere.
One of my gripes is that many Leslie Cheung films are hard to find, of low quality or they are hugely expensive. I would like some of them to be remastered in time for the 25th anniversary of his passing.
Cast
Leslie Cheung (國榮) as Sam Koo Gai Ming
Anita Yuen (袁詠儀) as Lam Chi Wing
Carina Lau (劉嘉玲) as Rose
Review – Spoilers
I really enjoyed this movie. I was taken aback how liberal and open things were in it, I’m actually quite surprised that it got past the censor. Gay relationships? I didn’t think that Hong Kong would be open to that so much.
The main story was about the relationship between Sam, Wing and Rose. We see the struggle that Sam goes through in potentially loving a man, and one that had just wattled into his life making quite an impact.
The last scene was something I didn’t expect. “I don’t care if you are a woman or a man, I love you”.
I’m not sure why this received some poor ratings, but who cares, I loved it. 5/5!
Where Can I See It?
I don’t know where this is available, but we bought the DVD. The DVD appears to be quite difficult to obtain now. I can’t even remember where we found it.