YOU SHOOT, I SHOOT
The Asian economic crisis has hit hard: hired killers are reduced to cold-calling to get jobs. Just when Bart the killer looks like he's going to have to mortgage his lifestyle, he creates the latest society craze: a personalised video documentary of your hit. With the initially reluctant but soon far-too-precious assistance of cameraman & Scorcese-wannabe Chuen, the pair embark on a shooting spree, in both senses of the word. It doesn't matter to Chuen how the client dies, just as long as he has full creative control. Bam!
The film gives a knowing nod to the ice cool school of hired killer flicks from Le Samourai to The Killer, and then promptly drills it right between the eyes - even the hitman's mother-in-law has someone she wants wacked. Edmund Pang directs his own screenplay with first-time director energy, simultaneously skewering almost every crime film ever made as well as the whole film-making process. The gags roll as often as the heads, thanks to the perfect comic timing of Eric Kot and Cheung Tat-Ming. The playful editing mixes moments with abandon, and the anything-goes soundtrack adds an extra element of dementia to an already loopy undertaking (I defy you not to come out singing "La la la la la laaaaaaa la" afterward). Goofy and vibrant, You Shoot I Shoot shows that even if they don't make 'em so often like they used to in Hong Kong, they sure can take the piss out of them. And remember: the more you kill, the more you save! Rating: 10 real estate investing killers out of 10 Reviewed by Mark Morrison [This review originally appeared in Inpress, Issue 722, Wednesday 24 July 2002]   Back to Heroic-Cinema's guide to MIFF 2002

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