9

Take Me (1991)

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Produced & directed by: Cha Chuen-Yee
Written by: Rico Chung
Starring: Veronica Yip, Ken Tong, Ng Sing-Fat, Maria Tung & Charlie Cho

Initiating a very fruitful (at least critically and creatively) relationship with writer Rico Chung in 1991, Cha Chuen-Yee (Once Upon A Time In Triad Society, The Rapist) makes his Category III debut with Take Me. Earlier on though in the cycle of such films in Hong Kong and he was not a shy participant as the years went on. Starting with a silly sex comedy here and going into gritty, true crime depictions and even mid that scoring high making comedic misadventures of cheating in Secret Lover. Skilled comedically and visually, Take Me doesn't warrant the latter. However bringing the silly, lighthearted and adult the filmmaker proves to be fairly apt at. But not REALLY good at yet. Take Me is a product of its time, when most directors slapped together a silly, adult piece so Cha isn't distinguish himself as a voice here. But he does have the Human Dick... embodied by Charlie Cho.

Veronica Yip plays Milk (or to her friends, Milky, Busts or just Breasts). She tell us the tale of losing her husband played by Hui Siu-hung on their wedding night to a heart attack out of lust and excitement but he comes back as a ghost. He watches her trying to find a new man in her life but she's juggling several. I.e. Ronald (Ng Sing-Fat) and painter Wai (Ken Tong). Shenanigans ensue. Naked ones.

While the journey of Yip's is there about finding true love, not falling in love too quickly, this rather flat looking exercise is there to tickle audience out after the in and out experience. Not to be challenged thematically but rather to see what the Category III rating has in store for them. So Cha is not shy about starting out showcasing Veronica Yip as a male fantasy as she is a nurse, cheerleader and a policewoman in the bedroom before Hui Siu-Hung kicks the bucket. Led by questionable advice by the open-minded and free spirited Maria Tung Ling-character (who's with 6 guys in one shower during one scene), the journey is a farce and and in an overall sense within the movie, Take Me is infectious fun that doesn't linger post-viewing.

It would've required performers a bit more comedically skilled as the triangular comedic shenanigans between Yip, Tong and Ng Sing-Fat becomes more intense (all shot at very sparse and similar locations, for budget and scheduling reasons surely) but they are bringing the important factor of being game which helps elevate the light factor to pleasing levels. Of course leading to both light-hearted but steamy sex scenes, these are usually verging on filler and stalls the movie (despite the pleasing sights on display) and because it's introduced a ghost-angle, the movie has no problem featuring characters engaging in rape-play either. Every mood and piece of content fits Hong Kong movies of this time.

It's a full, sometimes amusing plate with a Veronica Yip on the verge of critical acclaim in actual movies and the glamour she brings to the part is a small sign of that. While the film has no legendary celluloid between the three leads, Charlie Cho in his main debut year in these films makes the most out of this two scenes. First emerging as a strippogram called the Human Dick that spits milk out of his mouth signaling climax and in a giddy fashion using action figures and eggs during sex. Amazing how one game performer can even make you want to return to Take Me.

reviewed by Kenneth Brorsson