Hong Kong's Category III legacy lives on with an in-your-face reboot of a cult classic, reports Elizabeth Kerr.

Ka Lung Studio on Shek Kong is easy to miss, wedged as it is among literally dozens of autobody shops set back from the road. But hop into a taxi and your cabbie will roll his eyes at your confusion. "Oh, Ka Lung, of course. Lots of traffic going there."

The reason for the traffic is likely all the press and gear going into what are effectively the sound stages where 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy is currently shooting. For all intents and purposes it looks like any other film set: wood planks litter the floors, cables snake around them, and dozens of guys with cigarettes dangling from the corner of their mouths. It's a relaxed atmosphere with a relatively small crew, sadly all fully dressed. It's no den of iniquity; it's all business.

3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy is a reboot of Michael Mak's classic 1991 Category III guilty pleasure, Sex and Zen, which starred Lawrence Ng and then-reigning sex kitten Amy Yip. Of Mak's film, Roger Ebert wrote, "Sex and Zen is a nostalgic reminder of the soft-core sex films of the 1960s, before I am Curious (Yellow) and Deep Throat began the hard-core revolution and turned adult films forever away from sex and towards plumbing ... (Sex and Zen) is what it is: soft-core eroticism." One Dollar Production's producer Stephen Shiu Jr is hoping to accomplish much the same thing this time around - only in IMAX resolution.

The idea of a 3D IMAX porn film might sound like a cheap gimmick, but porn has a long history of being on cinema's technical cutting edge. It was the porn industry that saw the advantages of 16mm film, exploited VHS and ushered in the home video era as well as Internet e-commerce, and most recently jumped on the digital bandwagon. Smut peddlers were shooting in digital long before their Oscar-winning brethren. Combine that with Hong Kong's homegrown Category III penchant for producing the industry's most challenging films (The Untold Story, Man Behind the Sun) and you've got a recipe that may renew widespread interest in Hong Kong filmmaking.

Like the original, Extreme Ecstasy is loosely based on Li Yu's naughty Qing Dynasty novel, The Carnal Prayer Mat, and for the record it's not porn. "The definition of porn for us is sex scenes only. Porn doesn't have a story," says Shiu, pointing out that much of the original text has been jettisoned so that the focus isn't purely on sex. "It was too thin in the content regarding the value of love." Director Christopher Sun agrees. "We changed the subject and the metaphor. We figured we couldn't just clone the classic with 3D technology. It has to have currency."

To that end Extreme Ecstasy revolves around newlyweds experiencing problems in the bedroom that go off to find sexual gratification independently, ultimately realizing that disconnected, loveless sex is unfulfilling. The film stars Japanese actor Hayama Hiro, a regular in Hong Kong films (Break Up Club, Shinjuku Incident), and mainland newcomer Leni Lan. A TV crew is monopolizing Lan this day, but Hayama is quick to discuss that though they've both gotten over their nerves, the love scenes are still the most harrowing to film. "There are a lot of women around and I have to get into all these odd positions - with the sticker ..." Hayama says, subtly pointing to his nether regions indicating where a piece of tape concealing his bits would be. Did he say it was hard? "Difficult! It was difficult!" Hayama, Shiu, and writer Mark Wu interject almost in unison some raucous laughter. Some jokes never get old.

Performers were a little harder to come by this time, but Hayama got over his early trepidation. Of the impact on his career, Hayama admits: "Initially I was a little bit worried. But it's not that kind of film, and I'm comfortable with the scale of the production and what they're doing."

The quadrilingual Hayama shrugs off suggestions that this is the kind of film that could make him a star in Japan, where a soft-core scene industry thrives. "I'm not concerning myself with the Japanese market. It's a bonus if it opens up, but I'm more interested in the Chinese market." As it stands, few mainland viewers are likely to see the film on one of the country's 1,200 3D screens, but there's always the Mong Kok pirate. Now it's Shiu's turn to shrug. "It's meaningless, because it's 2D."

Shiu financed the roughly HK$25 million film himself, and has already sold the rights to Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore. He feels confident that Europe and North American sales won't be far behind. The American film market in November is where serious sales are made, and Shiu is going to be pitching 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy in Santa Monica.

He won't have any competition either. At one time it looked as though a race was on to be the world's first immersive porn experience when Tinto Brass - the revered/reviled Italian director of Paprika - announced he was in pre-production on Who Killed Caligula?, also 3D. Brass is best known for a massive falling out with Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione over the final cut of the '79 art porn turkey, Caligula. Shiu and Sun will beat Brass to screens.

"Of course, his scale is bigger than ours and it will take more time. We'll be done in the middle of October and release at the end of April or early May." And in case you forgot, "(This) is a soft-core feature film." On that front Brass will win.

But it doesn't mean Extreme Ecstasy will be a family film. Its origins were in the 3D boom, and Shiu was aware he needed an angle for a jaded movie-going public. "If we want to make a 3D movie it has to be different from Hollywood. We thought a new Sex and Zen in 3D would be exciting," Shiu enthuses. "We wanted to play around the censorship issues. A few scenes are quite explicit, to see if we can make some history," adds Sun.

"We don't see a lot of 3D naked bodies in cinemas, in real 3D. People are curious," Shiu continues. Oh really? Does he really believe that? "Yes. Otherwise why are you here?" he asks with a chuckle.

For his part, Sun - chatting over occasional interruptions from crew asking if the tea looks right or a book is accurate - was keen to tackle the challenges inherent in the project. The UK-trained director passed on several other films over the years, holding out for the right film for his debut. "I always wanted to make a Category III film. It was actually one of my conditions. Kung fu films and comedies won't make any difference to the industry," he reasons. In addition to the technical demands, Extreme Ecstasy faced, "A lot of limitations, a lot of censorship. How you play the subject and make it work is a challenge."

The white elephant is a 3D backlash, with consumers and critics already bleating about overkill, poor quality, and obvious cash-grabs. "Let's put it this way. It's too early to say," Sun remarks of public ill will. "The public hasn't seen even a glimpse of our film. We're using a classic subject as a redux, the pace is relatively slow and we put a lot of research and resources into art direction. We won't be exaggerating the 3D, but utilizing it in a subtle way. Storytelling is always the most crucial part of a film," a sentiment backed up by Shiu. Extreme Ecstasy was almost 18 months in development and went through 11 script drafts (by Mark Wu and the original's producer, Stephen Siu).

Regardless of what other territories buy the film, the only local exhibitor committed so far is the Newport chain. The Broadway and UA circuits did not respond to requests for a comment, but Shiu's conviction knows no bounds. Will the larger chains come around? "I'm sure they will say yes. Everyone is interested in this project," he theorizes. UA has to if anyone wants to see the film in gory detail; it operates Hong Kong's only IMAX theaters.

Finally there's the issue of the film's profit potential in ancillary - in movie speak, the crucial home video market. Porn is mostly consumed at home, and the consumer infrastructure for Extreme Ecstasy - 3D hardware - is still in its infancy. Shiu is unflappable. "If everyone changes to 3D TVs or computer monitors, I'll be the only software in the market," he says with a laugh. "The price difference between a 3D TV and a high definition TV is very close already. (Consumers) will start choosing the 3D TV instead. You may not use it everyday, but you'll have it when you want it," Shiu argues.

So is Hong Kong ready for a film like Extreme Ecstasy? Despite a fair amount of waffling, Sun seems to think we'll get over ourselves. "The majority is still suppressing a great deal, but I don't think we're doing any harm to society. This is (a drive) we're born with - for sex, to eat, to sleep. It's nature. We've just added some comic relief and made it more exaggerated. This is a fun experience," he states. Wait, does he mean making the movie or sex? "Both."

(HK Edition 10/01/2010 page6)