The boom boom boys

Director Francis Ng (left) stars in Dancing Lion with Lam Tse-chung and Anthony Wong (right).

Local satire reigns with Dancing Lion, a funny but chaotic comedy that puts the "Hong Kong" back into Hong Kong film. This film is filled to the brim with the Hong Kong spirit. When times are tough, people become creative in their attempts to make a living, and Hongkongers seem to be experts in this area. When faced with life-threatening situations, they often come up with brilliant, although at times, hilarious and even unrealistic solutions.

In this film, Ah Kai (Francis Ng) and Ah Kao (Lam Tse-chung) face the threat of retrenchment unless they can prove that they wield some marketable talent. Uncle (Anthony Wong) inspires them to attempt to live up to their family legacy and learn the lion dance. But before they could get their show on the road, the company closes down. The dejected pair plops down on the pavement wearing their lion suits, and they unintentionally become the center of attention. Within minutes, they've become an unexpected hit.

Things get out of hand as dancing lions swarm the streets of Hong Kong until the government steps in with restrictions. Things get even worse when they appear on TV and unwittingly reveal all their scheming and scamming. Then, they encounter rival dancing lions. They lose everything, including the true spirit and culture of the lion dance, and they again need Uncle to set them back on the right path.

The cast is supreme, the lions are adorable, and the lion dance performances are top notch. The dances in the film also feature some new moves that are sure to wow audiences.

This movie is also riddled with cameos by artists, such as Ronald Cheng and Chin Ka-lok.

A particularly enjoyable part comes toward the end of the movie, when on-camera dialogues seamlessly fuse with off-camera bantering.

Cinema viewers have gotten used to having a good laugh at the end of a movie when NG (no good) shots are aired, and this is definitely a refreshing and enjoyable break from the norm.

The film's director and producer Francis Ng could care less about what people think. Ng has always been known as a bit eccentric in both his acting and filmmaking choices, and popular appeal has never seemed to be a factor in his previous directorial efforts.

Ng and co-director Marco Mak manage to make Dancing Lion fun and clever while ingeniously sidestepping any quandaries of narrative deficiency by simply ignoring them.

Dancing Lion is running at cinemas citywide till the end of July.