The Dutiful Daughter Zhu Zhu (1966) Director: Chan Wan Cast: Connie Chan, Lam Kar Sing Publisher: China Art; Format: VCD English subtitles: No Full credits and synposis from the HKFA online catalog YouTube clip This is a movie about love—for parents, for friends, for the arts. The setting is the sixties, when the performance arts were looked down upon as just a lowly profession. Zhu Zhu is a filial daughter who cares for her mentally unstable mother. She works hard as a street performer to support her. One day she meets up with Ah Cheurn (Lam Kar Sing), who performs Cantonese opera. Zhu Zhu wants to learn opera and do something in the arts that she can be proud of. Ah Cheurn secretly trains her until his sifu (Lan Chi Pak) finds out and becomes very angry. In those days, sifus take their arts seriously and won’t accept any students unless they have the talent and the will to learn. Finally, the sifu accepts her as his student. Things are going well until some gangster decides he wants Zhu Zhu and uses her mother to control her. She leaves the opera troupe because of her mother and moves to Macau to sing for the gangster at his nightclub. She gives no explanation to her sifu or fellow performers. So they think that she was not serious and just wanted to make some money. It’s a big misunderstanding and a very sad scene. Then, one of the troupe members sees Zhu Zhu on a poster outside a nigthclub and returns with the troupe to see her peform. They want to talk to her, but the gangster reminds her that if not for him, her mother’s illness might recur. Zhu Zhu lies and tells Ah Cheurn that she’d rather be rich and to leave her alone. This leads to another sad scene of crying. Hearing this, Ah Cheurn leaves in digust, but then he realizes that Zhu Zhu is not really like that. So he goes looking for her. Meanwhile Zhu Zhu feels she has no way out, and suddenly her mother becomes unstable and starts choking her. At that moment, she just wants to die and leave this world. Luckily, Ah Cheurn arrives and tells her that she cannot be weak and that she must stand up for herself. The gangsters come in and beat up Ah Cheurn. Zhu Zhu grabs the gun away from them, and they run away with the gangsters in pursuit. They put up a good fight and are helped at the end by their fellow troupe members. Zhu Zhu realizes that she must go on with her life and make the best of becoming an opera singer. The final scene shows her success in the Cantonese opera circle. The movie has some excellent Cantonese opera training scenes. You can see both Lam Kar Sing and Connie’s training and realize why Po Chu is so good at what she does. This film was also my first time seeing Connie in a female opera costume: here she dresses as female warrior (the costume with a whole bunch of flags) and does an excellent job in her performance and singing. And finally, the fight scene when they ran away from the gangsters was pretty good too. Overall the movie’s story is simple but well presented. It shows that a poor person who has a love for parents, friends, and the arts can be happy. One doesn’t need anything materialistic. And that is what I like about some of Connie’s movies: there is a moral to it. Reviewed by Sue Guttilla Practicing the art of femininity with Cheng Kwun Min. Connie dressed as a female warrior. It takes five gangsters to hold Connie down. Connie leaves the troupe and disappoints her sifu. The film’s final scene features Connie’s real-life fans.