Japanese actresses fill in as Hong Kong girls shy away from on-screen eroticism

It has been long since Hong Kong has produced erotic films, as opposed to porn films which are something completely different. The last were perhaps Sex and Zen I, II, and III. Critics have attributed the diminished numbers of erotic films to a lack of sexy Hong Kong actresses willing to appear nude or become intimate with males on screen. So it’s hardly a surprise that in Sex and Chopsticks, the latest film version based on the novel Jin Pin Mei, that Japanese actresses – Hikaru Wakana and Kaera Uehara – are the stars. bc talked to them about what it was like.

How is this different from experiences in Japan?
HW: Japanese films do not allow you to show pubic hair, you know? I was surprised that we did not need a veil for my lower parts in a Hong Kong movie. I like the clothes and the set, they were so gorgeous. I could also feel how the director composed the scene exquisitely. It was not just lust but love and beauty.
KU: It is the first time I have participated in a this size of film production. The scale is quite different from what I have worked on before. Also, Hong Kong people are used to not having scripts. Haha, this will never happen in Japan.
What were the most interesting moments shooting
this film?
HW: I had to do all these poses, which were very challenging. Once I had to do an arch posture, overall it was much trickier and more demanding than in Japan!
KU: Yes, once they showed me a sex manual with many poses, some from ancient scripture – so many that I do not know where they collected them from. That guidebook was impressive.
What did you enjoy the most from working with the Hong Kong crew or the male lead?
HW: I found out that actually Hong Kong men are more shy than Japanese, more indirect in their expression. Mr Lam Wai Kin was very nice to me. Although we could not communicate fluently by language, he used Japanese phrases to help me feel relaxed. It was quite funny because we did not record lines on the set. We were both free to say whatever we wanted.
KU: Language, of course, was an issue. But the director and everyone else always endeavoured to get their message across – sometimes the director would cooperate with the art director to show us the postures. Their demonstrations made it much easier to comprehend!
The Forbidden Legend: Sex & Chopsticks is now showing
in cinemas.