[Film Review] Miracles (1989)

English Title: Miracles
Original Title: Kei zik 奇迹
Year: 1989
Country: Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese, English
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Director: Jackie Chan
Writers: Jackie Chan, Edward Tang 邓景生
based on the 1961 screenplay of A POCKET OF MIRACLES and 1933 story LADY FOR A DAY
Music: Lai Siu-Tin 黎小田
Cinematography: Arthur Wong 黄岳泰
Editor: Peter Cheung 张耀宗
Cast:
Jackie Chan 成龙
Anita Mui 梅艳芳
Kuei Ya-Lei 归亚蕾
Wu Ma 午马
Richard Ng 吴耀汉
Ko Chun-Hsiung 柯俊雄
Bill Tung 董骠
Lo Lieh 罗烈
Billy Lau 楼南光
Tien Feng 田丰
Gloria Yip 叶蕴仪
Joe Nieh 倪震
Fong Kong 方刚
Billy Chow 周比利
Liu Fong 吕方
Tien Ching 田青
Wang Wei 王伟
Tai Chi-Wai 戴志伟
Lau Siu-Ming 刘兆铭
Tai-Bo 太保
Michael Chow 周文健
Ken Lo 卢惠光
Lee Hoi-Sang 李海生
Tsang Kan-Wing 曾近荣
Chor Yuen 楚原
Fang Ju 方茹
Anthony Chan 陈友
Chun Wong 秦煌
Fung Hark-On 冯克安
Kenny Bee 钟镇涛
Ricky Hui 许冠英
Amy Yip 叶子楣
Chen Ti-Ko 陈狄克
Ray Lui 吕良伟
Mars 火星
Law Lan 罗兰
Melvin Wong 黄锦燊
Paul Che 车保罗
Lawrence Cheng 郑丹瑞
John Sham 岑建勋
James Wong 黄霑
Dick Wei 狄威
Woo Fung 胡枫
Shum Wai 沈威
Wong Sun 黄新
Ni Kuang 倪匡
Jacky Cheung 张学友
Yuen Biao 元彪
Simon Yam 任达华
Rating: 7.3/10

MIRACLES, aka. MR. CANTON AND LADY ROSE, is Jackie Chan’s remake of Frank Capra’s POCKET OF MIRACLES (1961), which itself is a remake of his own LADY FOR A DAY (1933), marrying the original idea’s rags-to-riches caprice with Chan’s trademark action spectacle, the result is among one of the king of kung-fu’s best offerings ever.

Out of an improbable quirk of fate (the causation can be boiled down to the homophones, “stomach 胃” and “seat/position 位”, both are pronounced “wei”), a country boy Kuo (Chan), who has just arrived in Hong Kong for the first time, is mistakenly taken as a successor of a local gang during a skirmish with its rival, lead by the boss Tiger (Ko), hailed from mainland Shandong province.

Attributed his stroke of luck to the rose he has bought from the kindhearted flower vendor Madam Kao (Kuei), Kuo gets into a habit of buying a rose from her every day to keep his luck streak, meantime, after winning the respect from his henchmen, save the treacherous Fei (Lo Lieh), who holds the grudge that he should take his place, and aided by his right-hand man Uncle Hoi (Wu), Kuo decides to go straight by transforming their illicit business into managing a legal nightclub, headlined by the show-stopping chanteuse Yang (Mui), with whom he becomes romantically linked.

The ongoing gang war with Tiger (which awesomely exhibits Chan’s masterful action choreography and gobsmacked stunts including the money shot, a dust-up inside a rope factory) and the persistent intervention of police inspector Ho (a particularly coaxing and droll Richard Ng) aside, the movie’s main course is to help Madam Kao fabricate a new identity, who has been dedicating all her life to support the study of her daughter Belle (Gloria Yip), now the latter is newly engaged and on her way from Shanghai to Hong Kong with her fiancé (Joe Nieh) and his rich father (Tien Feng), all believing that her mother is a wealthy socialite, a lie Madam Kao cannot justify and she is distressed that it will eventually spoil the matrimony.

In for a penny, in for a pound, Kuo, much at the behest of Yang, pulls out all the stops to help Madam Kao to maintain an affluent appearance which means comically, he and his underlings have to keep in check anyone who might let the cat out of the bag, until everything reaches a seeming boiling point, but if you think eventually true love surpasses any materialistic concerns, think again!

Peppered with star-studded cameos, and strongly riding on its borrowed source material, MIRACLES emerges as an all-around achievement for Chan, both as its director and the actor, apart from his preternatural physical plasticity and the capacity of superintending an opulent project with a firm hand, he is also an understated comedian, who can add celerity and alacrity to the unstopped comedy of errors with a mixture of resignation and assurance, totally a high-wire act.

referential entries: Sammo Hung’s WHEELS ON MEALS (1984, 7.1/10); John Woo’s ONCE A THIEF (1991, 6.5/10).