Anita Mui
It is hard to overstate the influence Cantopop had over most of the Chinese Dispora. For a huge part of the 80s and 90s, its probably safe to say that the Hong Kong pop world had one of the most outsized influence on movies, television, and songs (from Asia). Japan probably comes a close second, but the 80s and 90s, most of the Chinese disapora probably still had some residual hatred and fear of the Japanese from World War 2.
All this to setup that watching Anita was almost like a trip down memory lane. So much of the music that I listend to from my teen years were songs that she and her fellows sung, and being not one to read gossip magazines, I never really knew her outside of her acting and singing.
The movie from a biographical point of view is quite excellent. It covers the period from her childhood all the way to her last concert before she passed. It touches on how she got her trademark voice, and the group of folks who made her a success. It doesn’t quite cover her strife with her mother, but it does cover the love she had for her sister.
The major criticism I have of the movie is how LITTLE songs from her catalog they actually used. I’m not sure if it is beause they could not negotiate the rights to more than a handful of songs, but the bulk of the movie only had 3 or 4 songs which I thought was a massive traversty. Granted, she was almost as well known for being an actress, but to not cover her concerts and her most famous songs is almost ridiculous in my mind.
Contrast this to the Queen movie, which had significant touchstones marked by their songs and this is just such a pale comparison to this and other biopics which covers famous singers that I almost feel intrested in the backstory of how this came to be.
In short, watch the biopic if you’re interested in Anita’s life, but know that they did her dirty by not using her songs more.