| Daughter of Darkness and Brother Of Darkness actor Hugo Ng got his wife Lily Chung from the same films to act in his AIDS drama and not so much due Chung's, Ng fails at creating enough of assured content out of a solid dramatic template. Bobby Au is Wah, a newly married truckdriver and father. After his sexdrive goes into overdrive, indeed a fatal encounter takes place in Mainland China. An unnamed beggar (Hung Siu-Wan) offers her services and since skipping on the condom bit, Wah is infected with AIDS. Doing his blood test prematurely and seemingly in the clear, months later Wah's positive diagnosis is confirmed. It all goes to hell from there...
The effect of showing real photographs of young AIDS-victims is evidence of Hugo Ng preaching but the story is certainly filled with the type of aspects in need of re-telling. His other sensible decision is to shoot in synch sound but nothing else in Fatal Encounter registers. In fact, there really is a rookie feel to the drama and ultimately Ng's severely trips over his drawbacks. The gloomy atmosphere is in Mainland China where soldiers and characters overall are no less than evil. On the flipside, Hong Kong is bright and about to be tainted, a possible symbolism in Ng's frame but an ultimate example of him trying to create something relevant comes during his own role as a gay (and very flamboyant) insurance salesman. Making sure to inject prejudice towards homosexuals therefore, this all would of course be difficult for any filmmaker but the fact of the matter is that Hugo is reaching way too high. Not even the grave darkness and tragedy matters despite not being overdone soap-style. Even though final emotions are better aimed, Fatal Encounter is way too ambitious for only your second movie. |
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