The Forbidden Legend: Sex and Chopsticks

Hong Kong, 2008
Original title: Jin Ping Mei

Director: Man Kei Chin
Starring: Wai Kin Lam, Hikaru Wakana, Kaera Uehara, Serina Hayakawa
IMDB: 6.7

This straight to video effort from specialist Category III director Man Kei Chin continues in the vein of his previous sex comedies such as Sex & Zen II, The Eternal Evil of Asia, Naked Poison etc. If you've seen any of these you will know what to expect - bawdy humour, soft core sex, and rampant nudity.

In my opinion, Sex & Zen II and The Eternal Evil of Asia were amongst the best of Hong Kong's Cat III genre in the 1990's, so I was keen to see what he came up with this time. His trademark style is still there with a unique mix of lush period sets and costumes, martial arts, raunchy comedy and sex.

 

Unfortunately the comedy is spread a bit too thin in this one, although there are certainly many laugh out loud moments - especially towards the end. Sometimes however, the sex scenes threaten to turn this raunchy sex comedy into something more like softcore porn with a story, and some scenes jump directly to the next one without much effort at continuity. But where else could you see a story line like this ...

Simon Qing (Wai Kin Lam) is the heir to the Qing Dynasty, and his father is a sex expert who basically spends all his time shagging. When his wife is on her deathbed, her last wish is to be given one last orgasm.

He makes sure to educate his son in all the arts of female seduction, and imparts timeless words of wisdom such as ...

"To defeat your enemy, one must have an iron fist. To win a woman's heart, one must have a strong penis."

 

Unfortunately his father has forbidden him to have sex until he authorises it, so Simon becomes a furious masturbator, pleasuring himself frequently all around the palace. Finally however, he gets laid and falls in love, only to find out that she was a prostitute hired by his father to give him some 'hands-on experience'.

Simon then sets out on his travels in what is basically a Spring Break road-trip set in ancient China. Further details are unnecessary - basically he finds lots of women and has his way with them - in various positions, locations, and combinations. There's even some acrobatic kung-fu flying sex, and a memorable scene involving a sleepwalking dwarf.

 

Most importantly for this kind of movie, the actresses are attractive and lose their clothing often.

If you've never seen a Hong Kong Category III sex comedy before then this would be worth checking out, if only for the 'I didn't know films like this existed!' factor. If you enjoy this, I highly recommend Sex & Zen II which stars Taiwanese actress Shu Qi in one of her early roles, before she became a major Hong Kong movie star.

Rating: 5/10