Out of this world

>>Stephen Chow goes for the heart
in the weird, hilarious CJ7

by MARK SLUTSKY

Transposing cartoon logic to live-action has been a temptation for filmmakers for a while now, especially with the expanded possibilities afforded by CGI animation—think The Mask, or the Wachowskis’ upcoming Speed Racer. But nobody can make a film feel as animated as Stephen Chow, the Hong Kong comedy star and director behind hits like Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle (as well as about a billion other movies not as well-known to Western audiences).

Chow’s latest, CJ7, is a bit of a departure for the director, but his idiosyncrasies and creative visual imagination are still very much intact. The main difference here is that CJ7 is of the heart-warming, family film variety, though that doesn’t make it any less insane. Chow plays Ti, a poor labourer who’s sacrificed everything for his son, Dicky (Jiao Xu, who is actually female—though this movie also has a grown man playing a little girl, so it’s not such a big deal).

All of the father’s money goes towards sending Dicky to a private school, though by necessity he shows up in rags and is the victim of much bullying from students and teachers. All this is to change, however, when Chow comes across a stranded alien in a dump, who he names CJ7. CJ7 is an E.T. type, albeit one who looks more like a rubber toy than anything else, and his weird and wondrous powers turn everybody’s life upside down, most notably in a brilliant fantasy sequence where Dicky imagines how the little guy will change his life.

Chow’s movies are always such a strange jumble of the hilarious, the disgusting, the sentimental and the transgressive. CJ7 is no different, and it’s kind of amazing to see a family film with no anxiety about juxtaposing childlike hijinks with tragic death scenes with extended poo jokes.

With such wild shifts built into the fabric of the film, it follows that it’s a little inconsistent. You have to go along with some of Chow’s more objectionable habits, like the character of the bizarre or misfigured woman in love with the hero he seems to put in every single movie. Still, there’s lots of inspired weirdness here, enough to make this strange, touching film worth it.

CJ7 opens this Friday, April 25

>> Movie Listings