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A BETTER YESTERDAY – EP 6: MAKING SENSE OF NONSENSE
Ross O’Brien talks with Bey Logan about mo lei tau—Cantonese “nonsense talking”—and how Stephen Chow turned it into the dominant Hong Kong film genre of the 1990s.
Starting from the end of the heroic bloodshed cycle, they trace the shift from Chow Yun-fat’s rain-soaked hitmen to Stephen Chow’s fast-talking, genre-bending absurdity in films like God of Gamblers (1989) and All for the Winner (1990). Bey explains how mo lei tau grew out of Cantonese wordplay, the Hui brothers’ comedies, imported American humor, and Hong Kong’s gambling, hustling and kung fu culture.
They discuss Chow’s 1990s run—Fight Back to School, Justice, My Foot!, King of Beggars, God of Cookery, King of Comedy—and his recurring persona: the sarcastic underachiever who stumbles into greatness. They also look at how low-budget comedies outperformed big action films, how triad financing shaped (and then receded from) the industry, and how Chow’s decision to make fewer, bigger event films preserved his influence.
The conversation moves to Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7 and The Mermaid, asking what survives when mo lei tau crosses language barriers and why Chow may have been wise to avoid Hollywood. Finally, they consider whether these “nonsense” comedies are actually the best record we have of 1990s Hong Kong life.
Films discussed:
God of Gamblers (1989)
All for the Winner (1990)
Fight Back to School (1991)
Justice, My Foot! (1992)
King of Beggars (1992)
God of Cookery (1996)
King of Comedy (1999)
Shaolin Soccer (2001)
Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
The Mermaid (2016)
Bey hanging out with Stephen Chow
YOUR HOSTS
Bey Logan (A Better Yesterday)
Bey Logan is a Hong Kong-based screenwriter, producer and martial arts film historian. His films include Jackie Chan’s ‘The Medallion’ and ‘The Twins Effect’, Sammo Hung’s ‘Dragon Squad’ and ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny’, which starred Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh. He has produced documentaries about Bruce Lee, as well as a book entitled ‘Bruce Lee and I’. Bey’s recent publications include the two-volume ‘36 Chambers of Kung Fu Cinema’.
Ross O’Brien (A Better Yesterday)
Ross O’Brien writes about technology and economics in Asia from a fishing village on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. Most evenings he stares out at the South China Sea, fretting about what the salt air is doing to his comic books and Del Rey paperbacks. He has no film credits to speak of, unless you count the voice-overs he did for Vidal Sassoon shampoo commercials when he was hard up in Singapore in the 1990s.
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