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| MARK'S FESTIVAL GUIDE: Beast Cops (Crime): The hardest part about recommending this film is that it has an ultraviolent conclusion to what has until that point been an engaging and funny sort of Odd Couple with cops - Anthony Wong is the gamblin' and drinkin' one, Michael Wong is the stiff shirt, and Sam Lee is the weird oversexed undercover. I actually really like Michael Wong in this film - the repressed nature of the character suits him perfectly, and he uses his at times wooden presence to his advantage. The script is snappy and Hong Kong street smart. Don't pay any attention to advertisting that refers to gun-blazing action set-pieces, it's really not that type of film. When the violence happens it's very close and rather bloody. Rating: 8/10. Expect the Unexpected (Crime): If you've been hanging around this site for any length of time you'll know that I adore this film, and indeed any films from the Milkyway Image production house - other gems include A Hero Never Dies, Running Out of Time, The Longest Nite, The Odd One Dies, and others. I've watched Expect the Unexpected four or five times in the cinema, and it never fails to sweep me up - the characters are so engaging you become part of their world, which makes it all the more shocking because it's a violent world at times. Lau Ching Wan and Simon Yam are such a natural combo that you'd swear they'd been partners for years, and Yoyo Mung shines in her debut film, providing this occasionally bleak film with a warm heart at its centre. Ruby Wong also impresses as one of the cops (even now I can hear her saying "Yes SIR!"). The opening scene of an incompetent robbery escalating beyond all proportion is the best 20 minutes of celluloid at this or any festival. I could go on. Just see the damn thing. Rating: 10/10. Hitman (Action/comedy): The mere fact that Jet Li is in this one is probably enough reason for you to want to see it. It's a different flick for him, as he shares the stage equally with Eric Tsang, in a hilarious double act of a green assassin and his scheming agent. However, stone cold action fans find that this film sags in the middle when it gets less involved with the kung fu and more with the story of Tsang's train wreck of an emotional life. Around then is also the charming scene of Jet on ice at a rink with Gigi Leung - she said in an interview later that she enjoyed that scene the most because skating was something she could do that Jet couldn't! If you're willing to take a bit of soap with your high kicks and breaking glass, this is a pretty good film. If you're not, lighten up already! Rating: 8/10. The Kid (Comedy): It's a sad fact that the best intentions do not a great movie make, and here's an example. This tale of a struggle for a kid between the mother who abandoned him and the ex stockbroker who brings him up has many things going for it: Leslie Cheung is relaxed and natural as the part-time dad, Ti Lung shines as the ineffectual old neighbourhood cop, and the kid himself Erickson Yip has more talent per square foot than actors twice his size or four times his age. Between them, Yip and Ti give the picture its only affecting moments, each with a solo scene in which abandonment and heartbreak are suddenly made real. For the rest of the time, the film plods along, and it's hard to really get interested in the events. Given that director Jacob Cheung's previous film was the sublime Intimates, I'm not sure what went wrong here. However, it was a safe bet for festival opener, as it offends no-one. Rating: 4/10, one point each for Leslie, Lung and Erickson, and a bonus point for Ti Lung's yoyo tricks. The Longest Summer (Drama): An amazing piece of work, and totally robbed at last year's awards I reckon. Director Fruit Chan basically grabbed his crew and raced out to film scenes at every Handover fireworks ceremony in 1997. When he blends them with the events from his story, the result attains a historical context that fictional recreation cannot hope to attain. The story itself is about five Chinese soldiers who get decommissioned from the deparing British Army and dropped back into Hong Kong society with no jobs and no hope. It's a long film, but a gripper. Rating: 10/10. Moonlight Express (Action/romance): I really like this film a lot - I wish I liked it a little bit more. So many things are terrific about it - the breezy J-pop mood of the whole piece, the super-stylised undercover cop storyline, the resonance to be had with a story that blends bereavement with new love (particularly when the new love is the spitting image of the deceased). I absolutely loved the first 90% of it, but the ending felt bolted on to me. Oh well. It's still a vibrant and joyous piece of cinema, and you'll have a good time watching it. Rating: 7/10. Ordinary Heroes (Drama): Director Ann Hui's film is lo-fi in comparison to the brasher festival offerings, with more for the heart and brain than for the eyes. I don't tend to think of Hong Kong as a political city, but this story set in the 1980s is centred around a political protest to grant residency to the people living on the boats in Hong Kong harbour. The lives of four ordinary people are woven through this backdrop, and the film works on both levels, as both the story of a political movement and the people who set it in motion. Anthony Wong excels as a strumming Italian Marxist priest (based on a real HK personality), and Rachel Lee holds the centre of the film as a woman trapped by the hopeless yearnings of her heart. All in all, a fine drama. Rating: 8/10. The Storm Riders (Fantasy): A great big beautiful film. Director Andrew Lau does not so much reinvent the Chinese fantasy genre as give it a CGI makeover and a caffiene injection. Some punters complain that the CGI replaces good old kung fu, but I say they can boil their heads; The Storm Riders has a comicbook scope that takes it beyond the realms of a simple fu flick. Drag your friends to this one, and you'll all be sliding down the banisters and yelling "Give me my unchallenged city! Give me my unchallenged sword!" on the way out. Rating: 10/10. Tempting Heart (Romance): An absolute winner, and the bona fide hit of the festival. Sylvia Chang tells her story between past and present, and even cuts herself into the film as a director who is telling the story of a young woman's first love. The three main stars (Takeshi, Gigi and Karen) all have an unearthly degree of charisma, and each gives a fine portrayal of their characters both as teenagers and adults (in particuar, Gigi gives the performance of her career). The story is very simple - thwarted adolescent love causes lifetime of regret - but nicely told through flashbacks and fictionalisation. Later in the film certain scenes are revisited from other perspectives, showing that in love you rarely get the whole truth. A lovely film, despite the occasional outbursts of 1970s fashion, which show that taste deserted Hong Kong pretty much the same as it did everywhere. Rating: 9/10.
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