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Starring
:
Brigitte
Lin
Joey
Wong
Pauline
Wong
Elizabeth
Lee
Waise
Lee
Producer
:
Tsui
Hark
Director
:
David
Chung
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WEB
OF DECEPTION (1989)
Reviewed
by Rob Daniel
A
favourite for website mauling and generally overlooked by most
other sources 'Web of Deception' is a nifty little thriller in
the Hitchcockian tradition, produced by Tsui Hark for Film
Workshop for added kudos.
In leads Brigitte Lin, Joey Wong and Pauline Wong it
also features a triumvirate of top-drawer Hong Kong actresses.
For trivia fans each actress has played a succubus in a
memorable fantasy film; Lin in 'Ghost
in the Mirror' (her sophomore effort), Joey Wong in
the 'Chinese Ghost Story' series and Pauline Wong in 'Mr.
Vampire' and 'Mr.
Vampire 2'. But,
in this taut tale of corruption, betrayal and greed their
targets are not men but each other.
Indeed, apart from Waise Lee as a police inspector and
Cat's evil loan shark, this is mainly a man-free zone.
Jane
(Lin) is a professionally troubled barrister relocating to
Canada and leaving behind her faithful assistant May (Pauline
Wong). Bitter at
being passed over, May has started secretly blackmailing her
boss and arranges for her best friend Queenie (Joey Wong) to
steal $1m from Jane’s house to pay off the loan shark of
Queenie's reprobate twin sister Cat (also Wong).
Inevitably,
the deception spirals into violence and murder, with Jane,
May, Queenie and Cat locked into a deadly game of wits in
Jane’s large, isolated mansion.
'Web
of Deception' is a finely tuned, well-designed engine of
tension, drawing from such classics as 'Vertigo', 'Les
Diaboliques', 'The Shining' and 'Halloween', and even
borrowing John Williams' 'Jaws' theme to further up the
tension!
Underrated
director David Chung employs a fluid steadicam to prowl the
confines of Jane's house, as the characters attempt to outfox
each other to stay alive.
As John Carpenter did with 'Halloween', Chung uses
expert compositions and the edges of the frame to reveal
incriminating evidence or hidden characters.
Contrivances abound and Lui Fa's script does not
withstand scrutiny, but Chung's direction tightens the screws
with vital information and a troublesome corpse tantalizingly
hidden from other characters then revealed with unexpected
abruptness.
Lin
is physically restrained here but expertly conveys the shock
and terror of betrayal and Wong has a ball playing both the
saintly Queenie and the deadly Cat, while a cameoing Elizabeth
Lee is the subject of Jane's own blackmail attempts.
But, true honours go to Pauline Wong whose nuanced
performance drives the plot and emotion of 'Web of Deception'.
Unfortunately, she is omitted from the climax, a
pedestrian battle between Lin and Joey Wong in a runaway car.
The
true set piece is an earlier dinner scene, with Cat, Jane and
May avoiding eating the potentially poisoned feast while
maintaining a veneer of normalcy.
A fine staged scene of darkly comic paranoia, it best
illustrates the film's strengths.
A
great slice of suspense with three great turns from three
female greats, it is a shame 'Web of Deception' appears to be
David Chung's final film to date.
With this, 'Magnificent
Warriors' and 'Royal
Warriors' he was emerging into a director of
considerable talent.
Rating:
 
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