Based on the 1995 novel by Kim Jae-sik and shot in Vancouver, Canada by a Korean production company, the 1998 film A Night On the Water was Playboy model Sunghi Lee’s first and only starring film role. The story flashes back to follow the tale told by a recently canned hotshot investment trader who meets a hooker named Phoebe (Sunghi), who believes she’s a killer whale stuck in that Playboy model’s body.
Despite the film being considered a turkey by most B-movie pundits, the above steamy striptease Sunghi’s Phoebe character gives shortly after the pair meet, makes Melanie Griffith’s dance as “Holly” in 1984′s Body Double, seem lukewarm, at best. Sunghi’s sexy performance, combined with some awesomely bad acting from the supporting cast, is testament to why yours truly believes A Night On the Water is a movie worthy of cult status.
As many readers of this site already know, Sunghi, now 44, shut down her website in 2011 and retired from modeling and acting. She now lives a domestic life in Southern California. For those interested, the song she’s grooving to here is “Keep Me In Your Mind,” released in 1996 by Bulgarian singer Carolina, who now resides in the “Whatever Happened to..?” file.
That’s great news—congratulations Purtri!