Film Review: The Movie Emperor (2024) by Hao Ning

“It’s all about cotton padded jackets.”

Director Nao Hing and Hong Kong mega-star Andy Lau Tak-wah reunite after 18 years (when Lau produced Hing’s “Crazy Stone”) to bring to life a rather funny Hong Kong (and not only) film industry satire, with “The Movie Emperor”. Inappropriately labelled as a Chinese New Year movie and following its triumphant premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September and the Pingyao International Film Festival in October 2023, the film’s theatrical release during Chinese New Year 2024 proved unexpectedly disappointing, grossing just 83 million yuan, probably obscured by more classical and joke-filled comedies, as expected in those festivities.

Dany Lau (Andy Lau) is a veteran megastar with a large fan base, who has been around long enough to start thinking he needs and/or deserves a lifetime achievement award, something like an Oscar. Shortlisted for the Best Actor prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards, he loses it to a rival. Not just a rival, but none other than Jackie Chan, and – to add insult to injury – he is asked to collect the award on behalf of the winner who hasn’t even showed up at the ceremony. Suave and charming as usual, Dany faces the defeat with a façade of sense of humour, but deep down he is furious. Analysing the careers of his more awarded rivals, Dany gets to the conclusions that his mistake is not having done (like Jackie Chan did) more “serious work”, the sort of indie, arty movies that Western festival juries adore.

When the opportunity arises, he takes the leading role of a peasant (a pig farmer, of course!) in a Chinese art-house production and devotes himself to the success of the production, bringing in some sponsors and new-money investors who are not interested in the artistic value of the project but so arrogant to demand to re-write some scenes. Moreover, Dany’s fervour makes him embrace a sort of Stanislavski’s system – as the art of experiencing while training for the part – and he diligently scouts for poor people to observe, real pig farmers to imitate and modest (in his opinion) accommodations to live in. Things starts to backfire when, after adopting a pig as a pet, he also insists on doing his own stunts on a real horse (like Jackie Chan would do), unleashing a shitstorm of comments from the netizens.

The opening scene, with workers preparing kilometers of red carpet, setting up the Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, and soon after complemented by the same workers taking the whole circus down, is a perfect way to summarize “The Movie Emperor”’s core remark about the fleeting nature of fame and success. Nao Hing pokes fun at the star system and his acute observations hit hard and comment several points. First of all, the aforementioned transience of fame underscores how fragile the professional achievements of a public figure can be in the public eye. A consummate showman with years of experience could still lose everything for a silly faux pas. This also goes hand in hand with a critique of the cancel culture and the generational inability of Dany to deal with it.

Another emerging topic is the airtight bubble in which celebrities are confined and defined by the fun base’s gaze. Dany is paranoid of being filmed and he fears every little red light indicating a camera, something that will generate many cringe-inducing situations; one above all, his clumsy attempt to court a much younger promo director (Rima Zeidan). Not least, a rather funny recurrent point of the film is the mocking of the stereotypical art movie and the great lengths to go to get festival recognition and validation. Some of the best gags of the film involve Dany trying to learn how and where poor people live, culminating with a villager guide apologising: “Oh, you mean poor people? Sorry, we haven’t been poor in years.”

Andy Lau is the beating heart of the movie, obviously, and he plays Dany – a sort of rather dystopian alter ego of himself – with a dedication and zeal that only Dany could match. It is very funny watching such a legend making fun of himself, his entourage, and the industry. However, what truly elevates the film to a higher level is the way it is elegantly filmed and cleverly directed. The comedic time, Nao Hing’s method of lingering on certain static expressions for a long time, the frequent surreal wide-frame camera angles, the crisp photography from Wang Boxue; all blends to a whole that indeed surpasses the sum of its parts. Good performances by actors like Kelly Lim and Pal Sinn, many cameos of HK celebrities like Tony Leung Ka-fai, Miriam Yeung and Wong Jing, and, finally, Nao Hing playing the director of the arthouse movie in the movie, contribute to the final entertaining result.

The Chinese title of “The Movie Emperor” translates “Mr. Red Carpet” which is a rather apt title for this clever meta-movie and sleek satire of the film industry and the shifting figure of the movie star in the age of social media.