World Cinema: The Fruit Is Swelling (Mature Viewing)

The flyer for the UP Film Institute's "Summer 2008 Hong Kong Category III" describes The Fruit Is Swelling (Mi Tao cheng shu shu shi) thus:

An 8-year old girl wakes up to discover that she has the body of a grown-up and must come to terms with the pressures of womanhood.

The film is silly, shallow, sentimental, erotic and just about borders on the exploitative. I loved it.

The wonder of cinema is the ability to present a totally different culture from one's own in one sitting. It begs us to open our minds and go beyond our established moral paradigms. Penny Marshall and Tom Hanks explored the body switching genre with much success in 1988's Big, and The Fruit Is Swelling gives a uniquely Hong Kong raunchy twist to it in this 1997 film. This is not mainstream cinema by any standard. It's Category III, which is roughly equivalent to an R rating in the West, maybe even higher. And the UP Film Institute's materials properly warn it's for mature viewing.

These types of films can never be made in the Philippines. Our adult cinema, particularly the ones made during the last decade and those that have been touring the international film circuit, focus on the seedy side of life in brothels and slums. Poverty and existence on the fringes is somewhat of a standard canvass of our film erotica. Fruit has none of that. It's cute and mundane. There's a total absence of angst and negativity. The steamy scenes do not have sexy instrumental soundtracks. The music is videoke-esque instead, with synths, organs and cheery melodies. That's why Fruit is so disorientingly different. It doesn't take itself seriously.

A twenty-something swimming instructor falls for a barely legal 18-year old who is actually a decade-younger grade schooler. She wished to be an adult on some prayer tree and the next morning she's transformed into a teen. Side stories include a scheming and slutty ex-girlfriend, a hyper-sexually active father, a loose but caring older sister, and some other people with weird moral compasses. In the end, love triumphs. Softcore with a heart.

Kudos to alternative film groups and venues for bringing these types of films to Filipino viewers. Even the dibidi market is mostly dictated by what is Hollywood-current, so there's little salvation from that sector.

Other Hong Kong films showing up to the end of the month are Temptress Affair, Temptation Night, Snake Charmer, Sex and the Emperor, Sex Medusa, Sensual Feelings, Hunger For Love, Love Me Tender, and My Wife's Lover. Quite a lineup, eh?

http://upfilminstitute.multiply.com/
(click the blog tab for screening skeds)