Farewell My Concubine

Last night I went to a video store looking to buy a DVD movie by Leslie Cheung--who past away on April 1st--as a token of remembrance. I knew it will be either Happy Together or Farewell My Concubine, as they were international award winners and truly memorable films. Happy Together is good, but it is more of a Tony Leung film--his co-star in the movie--for it is told from Leung's narrative. Farewell My Concubine, on the other hand, is Leslie Cheung all the way, stretching his acting abilities through several generations. How often do you see actress Gong Li in a more-or-less supporting role? Thus, I decided to get the latter.
The movie wasn't hard to find, as it was already on the store window display, along with several other Cheung's films and concert DVDs, as expected. I needed to look no further. I walked inside with cash in hand and asked the owner behind the counter how much the "Concubine" DVD costs? He quickly answered: "HK$280." I looked at him wide-eyed then repeated the price just in case I heard wrong. "HK$280? Oh, okay, thank you." I slowly slipped my HK$100 bill back into my jeans pocket, embarassed, I walked toward the new-release section and pretended to browse the other selections.

All the while I am thinking, "what is wrong with this guy?" I can understand some markup to cash-in on the current event, as unfortunate as it might be; it is a business after all, but over three times the normal selling price? Ridiculous.

Actually, I don't know what the "normal" selling price is for this particular DVD, but in general, Hong Kong DVD movies can be bought usually for under HK$80. They are in fact a lot cheaper than Hollywood movies, which sell for HK$100 and up. Even last year's biggest Hong Kong hit, Infernal Affairs, and this year's Oscar foreign film nominee, Hero, are selling for only HK$95. That just about puts Cheung's "Concubine"--made a decade ago--the most expensive Hong Kong DVD ever.

After a couple minutes of "pretending," I left the store. I decided the extra walk to Blockbuster will now be worth the savings, for I was sure the super-chain store wouldn't gouge its customers' money that way. When I got there, the queue at the counter was long, but I figured since I am already here, I might as well get it now. I looked around, but couldn't find the "Concubine" DVD, so I asked a clerk for direction. He answered in a way as though he's been asked a hundred times that day: "The 'Concubine' movie never came out on DVD, and the VCDs are all sold out." I thanked the clueless clerk anyway and left, while thinking, "no wonder the other store owner is gouging; he has no competition from Blockbuster."

So what am I left to do? Well, I just had to call my bigger brother, who happens to be in Shengzhen, China this week. "Don't worry," he said, "I will buy the DVD for you here." Then I warned him, "I only want an original DVD; no copies, got it?" "No worries," he answered, "original DVDs here are so cheap." "How cheap?" I asked. "HK$15." He said.

Note: For the uninitiated, the huge price gap on DVDs between Hong Kong and China matches that of the standard-of-living in those two places. Thus, DVDs in China cannot be exported to Hong Kong. Got it?

Filed Sat - April 5, 2003, 04:42 AM in

Return to: |  



.