User Reviews

This film (also known as "Call Girl 1988") essentially begins with a young actress in Hong Kong by the name of "Jenny Lin" (Maggie Cheung) trying to further her acting career and to do that she reluctantly follows the advice of her agent "Auntie Lan" (Yee Seung) and yields to the advances of certain men in the movie industry while on a business trip to Thailand. The scene then shifts to a woman by the name of "Mei-Feng" (Bo-Bo Fung) in desperate need of money to help her husband receive medical care for a serious medical issue. To that effect, she secretly turns to prostitution in an effort to meet the rising costs the hospital requires. At that point, the scene shifts once again to a couple of other young women who have turned to prostitution for a variety of reasons which are further detailed as the film progresses. The problem, however, is that, even though they all assumed prostitution was just a temporary means to an end, their decision will soon result in enormous consequences that any of them could have possibly imagined. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was not an easy film for me to watch as it showcased certain aspects of prostitution in rather stark, and sometimes, graphic detail. That being said, I believe most people will find this film to be both sad and depressing. Yet despite the obvious exploitation depicted in this film, it also highlights the fact that these young women, like all of us, are still human beings who deserve respect. Unfortunately, because they are so often looked down upon by society, their wants and needs are often dismissed--as this film also clearly depicts. On that note, while this was not a film that I necessarily enjoyed, I thought Maggie Cheung, Bo-Bo Fung and Elsie Chan (as "Ling-Yu") all played their parts quite well, and I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly above average.

There are few movies that was made in the silver age of Hong Kong Cinema that no one noticed when it was released but turns out to be a gem. This is one of them. There are five women, and four stories going on at the same time. Jenny (Maggie Chuen) is a movie star, but she sidelines as a prostitute only outside Hong Kong. Ling-Yu (Elsie Chan), and Shan-Shan (Carrie Ng) are room mates. They work at a night club as a hostess, and also prostitutes. Fei Fei (Siu Chin Ha) is a teen ager who has a step father who's a pervert. She runs away from home after he tries to rape her, and shacks up with a pimp named Bobby. He of course makes her "work". Mei Feng (Bo Bo Feng) is a house wife with a husband who need's kidney dialysis. She prostitutes under the name Tsui Tsui to get extra money to help his medical situation. The streets of Hong Kong makes a perfect back drop for each of the stories.

What makes this movie so great are the people. They all work so they can support them self and someone in their family. In the orient there's a code in human relation called "yan chin", that people basically care for each other to give support. This movie's plot is filled with it and then some (!) You have to see it to appreciate how well the stories are written. Ling-Yu is looking out for her room mate Shan-Shan who's depressed from time to time. Shan Shan needs to look after her aging mother. Fei Fei need's to look after her preteen sister who've also been seduced by her step father. Mei need's to support her husband and her little son.

Things don't always turn out well in the end, but for sure each tried to love their loved ones as well as they can, and for some, there're glimmers of hope for the future. Here, it's not the two great Hong Kong actors Maggie Chueng and Carrie Ng, but Siu Chin Ha and Elsie Chan who steals the show with their acting. Music by Tsai Han is also well written and perfectly matches the story. Great human drama, and a great Hong Kong movie classic.

Call Girls 1988 a.k.a Girls with no Tomorrow (1988) is an omnibus of the lives of five different prostitutes. Their lives are chronicled throughout this movie. The film features two of Hong Kong's hottest star, one future and one rising (Maggie Cheung and Carrie Ng). Maggie Cheung plays a high class call girl whilst Christine Ng is on the lower end of the business. No matter what end of the spectrum these girls belong to, their lives are all the same, empty, shallow and depressing. One scene in this movie really> shocked me. It involved a confrontation between a battered Call girl and her Pimp/Boyfriend , a pair of shears and a toilet bowl (You have to watch what transpired!).

Highly Recommended, Maggie Cheung is a brilliant actress, she can make any type of material watchable. She and Christine look strange all dolled up in poofy 80's hair and make-up.