ALL ABOUT AH LONG
(Chinatown Video)
Reviewed by Jonathan
Marshall
Ah Long (1989) is a curious retrospective release with most
interest for fans of Chow Yun-Fat (Anna and the King, The
Killer, The Replacement Killers, A Better Tomorrow). Chow plays
a lovable slob of a looser in the tradition of early Steve MacQueen or Al
Pacino films, geared up in a way that would do any old-time AC/DC-lover
proud: a heavy, 1970s boff hair-do, torn denims and petrol-head motorbike dreams. After
briefly surveying Chow’s trials as a hand-to-mouth single parent, we
are introduced to his ex-lover and the boy’s mother (Sylvia Chang),
now a jet-setting advertising designer, while Chow has remained moored in
his larrikin past. The rest of the film explores the emotions and conflicts put into
effect by the return of the mother, with the inevitable custody dispute. Much of the
appeal of the film lies in the fact that the major narrative developments are so obvious
and clearly flagged so far in advance, that when they take so long to actually eventuate,
one has dismissed such possibilities as likely to ever occur.
Ah Long also departs significantly from the woeful, anti-feminist
backlash film Kramer versus Kramer in depicting warts and all a highly
problematic relationship. For all Chow’s charisma, his character is
shown as deeply flawed, with not only a tendency for irresponsibility but occasional
violent outbursts as well. There is no suggestion therefore that the mother’s
commitment to independence and a working life makes her a selfish monster unsuited to
motherhood (as is the case in Kramer). Nor does the film take the equally
offensive position of Paris, Texas that even though her son has been raised by
another for ten years, that her ‘natural’, ‘biological’ connection
makes her inevitably the best one to care for the child. Ah Long is uniquely and
impressively even-handed. If one can forgive the predictable, melodramatic tragic ending
which neatly solves these conundrums, Ah Long is a convincing, modest film which
allows English-speaking audiences a rare chance to see Chow outside of
his usual gun-slinging roles - even if he does remain daggily cool throughout.
© 2000 Jonathan Marshall
H E R O I C * C I N E M A
http://www.heroic-cinema.com
