AMPHETAMINE 安非他命 Hong Kong Movie Part 1. IF it’s CENSORSHIP, it’s MUCH ADO about EVERYTHING.

A CANDID INTERVIEW with FILM DIRECTOR SCUD.

From the onset, it’s apparent that AMPHETAMINE a Hong Kong production is sailing into an uncharted sea of controversies.

First, it is an ASIAN gay-genre movie, gloriously spiced with stark revelations of full frontal nudity.

And glory be, it’s a feast for your eyes as this artsy homo erotica leaves nothing to the imagination.

This is to say that the male leads gloriously and proudly strut their manhood unashamedly.

“And why not?” the film director quips,”Clothes are for putting on, they are not part of us. On the other hand, your body belongs to you and nobody can take that away from you.”

It is this charismatic mainland-born-and-Hong Kong-based director SCUD‘s third feature on a gay theme.

His earlier ventures were CITY WITHOUT BASEBALL (2007) and PERMANENT RESIDENCE (2008), a semi-biopic of the director himself.

AMPHETAMINE stars a handsome pair – poster boys BYRON PANG and THOMAS PRICE.

The plot weaves around a cute Chinese fitness trainerKAFKA (BYRON) who encounters a dashing financial consultant called DANIEL(THOMAS).

Of course we are led to believe that KAFKA is a straight guy with a lovelorn girl friend, whilst DANIEL is openly gay.

KAFKA and DANIEL fall madly in love with lust and assume that love can conquer almost everything, even with the drug addiction that KAFKA is prone to.

Can AMPHETAMINE, a psycho stimulant propel lovemaking to another uncharted realm of ecstasy?

Don’t even try – as the movie dictates, unless you looking for dire consequences!

Beware, don’t touch DRUGS as these can harm you, body and soul.

In all SCUD‘s films,it is always poetry-in-motion as we are treated to a brilliance of lush cinematography with classy lensing by creative Directors-of-Photography, as shown in the painstaking work of CHARLIE LAM in AMPHETAMINE.

There’s often, this lingering lilt in mood and tone,

one of intense loneliness, despair and gloom

when we learn that it’s a love affair that’s never meant to be, and that it’s doomed from the start.

Amie Olive pays homage to this film by with the stark poemONE OF THOSE NIGHTS:

“Washed over

with convulsions of heat and pain

Contorting moans

could be blindly mistaken as pleasure

If only

to be held in welcoming arms

A moment

of unexpected warmth and comfort

The reminder

of walking this path alone tonight

Chilling tremors

rake across my spine in realization

Another burst

takes hold of my breath and heart

Watery orbs

blur my vision as a stinging kaleidoscope.”

The HONG KONG TV and ENTERTAINMENT AUTHORITYrecently demanded snippings to be made to several key scenes depicting anal intercourse (where KAFKA is raped by a gang of 4) to be deleted before the commercial public viewing.

Paradoxically, this film was permitted to screen without cuts at the closing of the 34th Hong Kong International FilmFestival 2010.

Citing double standards, SCUD appealed to the Chief Executive DONALD TSANG.

The end results?

The censored shots were totally “blackened out”, but the accompanying sound and painful moans stayed untouched, much to the chagrin of the film director.

It is a case of much ado about everything in this fickle minded entertainment industry pertaining the rights and wrongs of competent censorship.

Every country has it own set of rules and how far can a film director stretch his creative freedom?

What price ART?

Follow up on PART 2 to uncover more candid revelations. The controversial albeit personable film director airs his opinions on the CENSORSHIP issue.