LAST DANCE, THE

(director/writer: Anselm Chan; screenwriter: Cheng Wai-Kei; cinematographer: Anthony Pun; editors: William Chang, Curran Pang; music: Wan Pin Chu; cast: Michael Hui (Man Kwok), Dayo Wong (Dominic Ngai), Catherine Chau (Jane), Michelle Wai (Yuet Kwok), Chu Pak Hong (Ben Kwok), Paul Chun (Uncle Ming); Runtime: 126; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Kim-Chau Shiu, Anselm Chan; Empreror Motion Pictures; 2024-Hong Kong-in Cantonese with English subtitles)

“A life-affirming dramedy.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Hong Kong filmmaker Anselm Chan (“Ready or Knot”) directs and co-writes with Cheng Wai-Kei this goofy comedy set in 2020. Its story centers around opposites working together in an Asian funeral business.

The in-debt Hong Kong wedding planner Dominic (Dayo Wong, standup comedian) because of Covid-19, changes positions and is made a funeral director thanks to his girlfriend Jane’s (Catherine Chau) retiring uncle (Paul Chun). 

Dominic’s first client asks him to embalm his young son who has been dead for six months. Meanwhile Dominic must work things out with his annoying rigid new business partner, the Taoist priest Master Man (Michael Hui), who performs the traditional “breaking hell’s gate” rites that liberate the dead souls.

The newcomer’s flashy gimmicks turn the priest off. In one case, for a car crash victim he commissions the Maserati he died in to be his casket.

The priest and director must learn to complement each other as partners. The “Taoist priest transcends the souls of the dead, while the director transcends the souls of the living.”

It’s a strange film with sharp religious refrains, filled with many twists and turns. It’s also over-plotted. In any case, Dominic evolves into a compassionate undertaker and bonds with the grieving priest. The likeability of the two leads overcomes a sketchy plot.

In the climax, Man’s daughter Yuet (Michelle Wai), a paramedic, is a victim of dad’s old-fashioned sexism (women shouldn’t be Taoist priests). His Taoist priest older child Ben (Chu Pak Hong), heir to dad’s position, displeases dad that he’s married to a Catholic and that they have a 7-year-old raised as a Catholic.

The tender drama and deadpan comedy makes for a life-affirming dramedy.

REVIEWED ON 1/12/2025  GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com