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Chow, self-proclaimed 'God of Cookery', has strayed from the culinary
path, spending more time profiting from his image than actually
cooking. When he gets exposed by a rival chef Bull Tong, Chow loses
everything, and is forced to beg for food in the Temple Street markets.
Things start to turn around when Sister Turkey takes an interest
in him.
Chow Sing Chi shares dual directional credit on this film and it
is clear from the outset that this is a good thing. The pacing is
just right and Chow's character is afforded just enough time to
show off his comic talents. 'God' also has a very different look
to the rest of Chow's work and the colours are particularly stricking.
The formula for all of Chow's films is present and correct here
but there seem to be too little jokes to fill in the amount of time
allocated to them. There are no hilarious stand-out moments and
the whole film just seems to float by. Some of the plot twists are
completely unexpected and therefore this makes the film's structure
very erratic - you never know what will happen next! In one sequence
Chow is beaten to within an inch of his life by some monks training
him to be a master chef and we are expected to laugh. But for a
Chow Sing Chi film I suppose that this is par for the course. One
thing Chow's gang do seem to be is far ahead of the rest of the
Hong Kong filmmakers in terms of special effects, and some of the
effects at the end are quite impressive.
The outrageous cooking sequences make this worth watching (although
the ending is a bit too convenient). If you want fast moving Chow
this isn't the film for you. His humour has always been a bit uncalled
for in places and 'God of Cookery' concentrates too heavily on manipulating
the audience and being emotionally heavy rather than making them
laugh.
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