LIFE IS CHEAP… BUT TOILET PAPER IS EXPENSIVE: Wayne Wang’s Outrageous Hong Kong Odyssey
Wayne Wang (Chan is Missing, The Joy Luck Club) has been revising his marvelously titled Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive since its initial release in 1989. Largely overlooked in the United States at that time — it didn’t help that it was slapped with an X rating — it is now landing in theaters in a new 4K restoration of Wang’s preferred 2021 cut, which he has declared to be the definitive version of the film. And what a film it is — an oddball mash-up of documentary and fiction that follows a courier from the United States on an odyssey through the streets of pre-handover Hong Kong.
A Whole New World
Our protagonist (played by the film’s screenwriter and co-director, Spencer Nakasako) arrives in Hong Kong with no idea what is in the briefcase handcuffed to his arm or why it is so important that it be delivered to the “big boss,” Mr. Lo (Lo Wai). While waiting for further instructions, he decides to check out the sights and sounds of Hong Kong: a vibrant kaleidoscope of butchers preparing ducks for slaughter, wealthy families arranging marriages for their children, prostitutes complaining about their clients, dubbers recording sex noises for porn soundtracks, and taxi drivers speeding through the streets with little regard for their safety or anyone else’s.
In a film comprised largely of episodic encounters, you expect things to be a bit uneven, and Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive certainly is. The film seesaws between genres and situations with wild abandon, from gross-out comedy that wouldn’t be out of place in Jackass to full-throttle action, including a lengthy on-foot chase scene that would give anything in the Jason Bourne franchise a run for its money. (Shot with a handheld camera from our protagonist’s point of view as he chases thieves through the streets of Hong Kong, this jangling, anxiety-inducing sequence — amped up further by a frenetic jazz score — is the film’s standout.)
Spin Me Round
Audience whiplash while watching Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive is guaranteed; it’s just a question of whether or not you thrive on that kind of chaotic energy. I personally could have gone without some of the sequences of duck slaughter, and one where a dog is running in a harness on a treadmill — why, I was not entirely sure, but I assume for dog racing or some other unsavory reason, which made me shudder while I was watching it. Much better are the documentary-style interviews, including one with a wealthy couple declaring that it’s about time that Eastern elites received the same attention as those in the West, and the neo-noir plotline in which the courier ends up in an uncomfortable situation involving Mr. Lo’s mistress, a beautiful and mysterious woman known as Money (Cora Miao, who also happens to be Wang’s real-life wife).
Needless to say, the film showcases pretty much the entire strata of Hong Kong society at a time when the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China was imminent, and communist traditions were clashing with capitalist encroachment. It’s a snapshot of a world in flux, one that will never exist in the same way ever again. One could not have captured such a world in a staid, straightforward way; it requires a singular method of storytelling, and Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive fits the bill. This film not only smashes generic conventions but also rating criteria to smithereens; I’m not sure why it was given an X at the time of its initial release unless the powers that be just wanted to scare off audiences whom they deemed unprepared for something so outrageous.
Conclusion
Newly restored and ready for rediscovery, Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive and can be overwhelming, and even unpleasant. But most of all, it’s incredibly unique — and a reminder of how gloriously unhinged late 20th-century independent cinema could be.
What do you think? What Wayne Wang films have you seen? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The new restoration of Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive opens at BAM in New York on September 30, 2022.
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