Tuesday, February 22, 2011 -

I’m back again after another long hiatus….I guess there’s too much stuff on hand to be able to blog with any kind of frequency….work, outing and the stacks of Dvds and books waiting to be consumed.

Anyway I’ve been ordering loads of Dvds online for the past few months and have amassed a respectable collection of hard to find, critically acclaimed films that are not commonly available in Singapore.

Long story short, this blog is going to die a slow and painful death if I just recounted mundane anecdotes of my daily work life…e.g. “Woke at 7am, went to work, got stuck in trfafic jam, was 15 minutes late, went home at 9pm, have dinner at 10pm, surfed the net and watched ¼ of a movie before going to bed. The end.” …LOL…

So I decided, after watching this diverse range of genre films from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and US, it’ll be an interesting change of pace if I utilized this blog more frequently, to bring some attention to some of the more obscure but interesting films I managed to catch by posting short reviews on them from time to time…

I thought I’ll start off with a review of Election 1 by Johnnie To, my favorite Hong Kong triad genre picture by my favorite Hong Kong director:

Election 1

Johnnie To’s Election 1 and Election 2 are some of the finest Hong Kong films made within the gangster genre, in the vein of Francis Ford Coppola’s sprawling Godfather Trilogy and Martin Scorscese’s Good Fellas.

While films are not as fast-paced and dynamic as Alan Mak and Andrew Lau’s ambitious Infernal affairs trilogy, what they lack in action, they more than make up for in pure atmosphere.

Johnnie To keeps the first film dark, gritty and suitably atmospheric and infuses it with a refreshingly realistic level of street-level violence that is less stylized than many of the other films in the director’s oeuvre like Exiled, Vengeance and PTU. Gone are the John Woo-esque ballet of choreographed gun-fights, replaced with down and dirty street-level brawls with knives and fists.

The sense of tradition and History that underlines the century old Wo Sing Triad and their election process (with the symbolic tradition of passing down the fabled Dragon-Baton) informs both films and adds an additional layer of authenticity and weight to the overarching plot-line.

To masterfully introduces a large and colorful cast of characters in his moody gangster melodrama but manages to make even the smaller supporting players like Lam Suet and Nick Cheung very distinct and memorable characters unto themselves. The film is peppered with excellent character vignettes that effectively introduce some of the more minor players into the film such as Nick Cheung’s deliciously over-the-top Porcelain spoon eating scene.

Another highlight of the film’s cast was the old and wizened “Uncles” of the Wo Sing triad. Retired former chairmen who represent the film’s secret puppet masters, squabbling over the merits of the triad Election candidates over tea, each faction with their own hidden agenda. The “Uncles” serve as the old guard in the film, adding a sense of history and gravitas to the proceedings and further reinforcing the film’s theme of the transfer of power across the generations.

The main protagonists in the film Lok (Simon Yam) and Big D (Tony Leung Ka Fai) are in top-form as rivals vying for the top spot in Wo Sing Triad. Lok plays the level-headed and humble gangster while Big D chews up the scenery as the hot-headed, loud mouthed thug that wants what he think is due to him, namely the top spot in the organization. Here is where Johnnie To successfully subverts his audiences expectation as the “lesser of two evils” Lok is revealed to be a bigger monster than Big D is by the end of the film.

There are no “Gangsters with a heart of gold” in this film, only power-hungry thugs who perform all manner of heinous acts in their bid to ascend their chosen field of profession.

11:08 PM