Lawyer Lawyer 算死草 | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joe Ma |
Written by | Joe Ma Wong Ho-Wa |
Produced by | Joe Ma |
Starring | Stephen Chow Eric Kot Karen Mok Chingmy Yau |
Cinematography | Cheung Man-Po |
Edited by | Cheung Ka-Fai Kong Chi-Leung |
Music by | Lincoln Lo |
Distributed by | Cameron Entertainment |
Release date | 1997 |
Running time | 85 min |
Country | Hong Kong |
Language | Cantonese |
Lawyer Lawyer (Cantonese 算死草, Jyutping syun3 sei2 cou2, literally "compute death weed") is a 1997 Hong Kong comedy film produced, directed and co-written by Joe Ma.
Plot
Stephen Chow stars as Chan Mong-Gut, a famous Chinese lawyer who was killed in the Qing dynasty. He must defend his apprentice, Foon, who has been framed for murder in Hong Kong. Being the third worst lawyer in China, he challenges the British legal system with no evidence on hand and manages to identify the killer in a hilarious way.
1997
The film was released during the same year as the Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong. As the film deals specifically with the issue of justice, it can be interpreted as responding to the fears of the PRC takeover and to the general uncertainty of what that meant to the people of Hong Kong, as long as you ignore the content of the movie itself, which implicates the UK as the source of injustice. The film promotes a normative vision of justice that can prevail over any tyranny, suggesting that knowledge of law, and the freedom to express it, is more important than brute strength (as embodied by the trials and tribulations of Chang Mong-Gut over countless foes).
Cast
- Stephen Chow as Chan Mong-Gut (credited Steven Chow)
- Eric Kot as Foon
- Karen Mok
- Chingmy Yau
- Kar-ying Law (credited as Law Ka Ying)
- Tat-ming Cheung (credited as Cheung Tat Ming)
- Vincent Kok
- Tats Lau (credited as Lau Yee Tat)
- Paul Fonoroff
- Bowie Lam
- Spencer Lam (credited as Lam Sheung Yee)'
- Siu-kei Lee (credited as Lee Siu Kee)
- Simon Lui
- Wyman Wong
- Moses Chan
- King-fai Chung (credited as Chung King Fai)
- Bobby Yip (credited as Bat Leung Gam)
- Kin-yan Lee (credited as Lee Kin Yan)
- Quinton Wong (credited as Quin Tin Wong)
- Madam Nancy
- Kai-man Tin (credited as Tin Kai Man)
External links
- Lawyer Lawyer at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
- Lawyer, Lawyer at Hong Kong Cinemagic
- Lawyer Lawyer at IMDb