FULLTIME KILLER
Rated R. 103 mins.
To quote the film's tagline, this is a story about two killers with different ideals. To rewrite that slightly, this is a film about films about killers.
O (Takashi Sorimachi) is a Japanese hitman who maintains a profile so low almost doesn't exist. He's the sort of guy who hires a cleaning lady (Kelly Lin) without actually living in his apartment - he just drops in from time to time to make a designer mess. By total contrast his rival Tok (Andy Lau) is flashy and reckless; he loves action movies, and bases his hits on favourite films. Tok's goal is to be Asia's #1 killer and so sets his sights on O, but he's not alone in that pursuit: Interpol agents (Simon Yam and Cherie Ying) are also closing in. A three-way battle brews, and keeps the film jumping for much of its running time.
Not just jumping, but travelling too. This movie is rabidly international. The opening hits are staged in Malaysia and Thailand; the killers collect their respective fees in Singapore and Korea before heading home to Hong Kong to stalk the same girl. Scenes between fine Chinese actors are played entirely in English; indeed, Lau speaks four languages here (he also breaks out his Japanese, Cantonese and Mandarin). A local Hong Kong audience must be disappointed on some level to this and find themselves having to read subtitles.
Although hampered by the shifting languages, all involved put in fine performances based on their particular archetype. Japanese TV drama star Sorimachi is reserved, by accident or design (this is his first Hong Kong role), but either way suits the role perfectly. Kelly Lin impresses after her lightweight sexy bombshell roles in the last few Wong Jing films. But without doubt the film is owned alive by Andy Lau, who wallows in his first chance to play a villain (given that this is his 102nd film, he's been waiting a while). He's also the first character in screen history to pick up a chick while wearing a Bill Clinton mask. (Ooh, creepy.)
As is to be expected from a tale about professional killers, the film drips so much style that you have to wipe off the spray. Every action sequence is beautifully set up and
realised. Sorimachi is the ice cool killer, Lau is the grinning madman; from their dress sense to where they hide their hardware, every aspect is meticulously presented. Tok's in-character homage to his favourite films is reflected in the cinematography of each hit, and it's great fun playing spot the homage. It's without doubt one of the slickest films you'll watch this year, and devilishly witty as well, such as its sly use of Snoopies of the World (you'll never look at the all-nations plastic beagle the same way again).
Although impeccably groomed, Fulltime Killer pulls taut your suspension of disbelief and plays a merry tune on it. The in-jokes are so thick that the actors seem constantly on the verge of whispering "Pssst! It's only a movie!". The late introduction of the killers' fulltime biographer very nearly sinks the
story entirely; it's hard to empathise with characters who are so self-consciously fictional. Some of the fault here may lie with Edmund Pang's original novel.
Given director Johnnie To's previous emotional triumphs with films like
A Hero Never Dies and Running Out of Time, I can't help feeling that he could have turned in a better movie by making it a lot simpler. Like Tok's first high calibre shot at O (it spangs off the top of his bike helmet), it's a near miss.
My friend Kim summed up the film much more succinctly: it's "too fake". Still, there are worse ways to have your leg pulled than watching this suave and sassy Hong Kong hit.
HAPPY TOGETHER (1997)
This is the sixth film from Hong Kong arthouse director Wong
Kar-Wai, and the one that netted him the Best Director award at Cannes in 1997. Wong
takes two of Hong Kong cinema's most handsome leading men to South America for a
story of love lost and love endured. The script is partially based on The Buenos Aries
Affair, by author Manuel Puig, whose non-linear narrative techniques
were a seminal inspiration to Wong's development as a film-maker and
storyteller.
Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and Ho Po-Wing (Leslie
Cheung Kwok-Wing) move from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires to start over. The film
opens with them making love in a fashion at once tender and desperate, and soon enough
they break up again over an aborted road trip to see the famous Iguazu Falls. Lai goes to
work as a doorman at a tango bar, and must endure the sight of Ho coming and going most
nights with a different man. However, when Ho is badly beaten, Lai takes him in. The two
start over again, with inevitable results. As Lai sums it up, "I had no regrets until
I met you. Now my regrets could kill me."
It's a beautiful and mesmeric film. Australian-born Christopher
Doyle's cinematography is exquisite, and uses a wide mix of mediums, from
black-and-white to video to 16mm to grainy colour to still frames and back again. It
sounds messy, but the result draws you effortlessly into the misfiring emotions of Lai and
Ho's world, so much so that after a while you fail to notice exactly when the colour comes
and goes.
There's not a great deal of plot, which is the point; humans are
unpredictable creatures, particularly in love, and life rarely runs neatly. It leaves the
actors plenty of space, and Tony Leung picked up the Best Actor award at
the 1998 Hong Kong Film Awards. His character's journey defines the film, and it's
ultimately a hopeful one. The credits roll to the tune of the Turtles song "Happy
Together", and you'll be still humming it for weeks afterward.
Available on: Chinatown
Video. VCD and DVD.
A HERO NEVER DIES (1998)
This is one for the true believers. If you long for the heroic archetypes
of late 80s and early 90s Hong Kong cinema, here they are. The makers of Expect the
Unexpected (director Johnnie To and producer Wai Ka-Fai)
leave gritty crime realism aside for a moment and deliver up a glorious homage to the
two-gun-blazing big-heart-pumping Hong Kong gunplay genre.
Jack (Leon Lai) is the big brother in Mr Yam's gang.
Martin (Lau Ching Wan) is the big brother in Mr Fong's gang. Both are men
of honour, and there is a strong bond between them - but that bond is sundered when Yam
declares war on Fong. A triad killer must stand by his boss, no matter what, so the two
spend one last night looking at each other through the bottom of a wine glass, knowing
that tomorrow they'll be looking at each other over the barrel of a gun. Gunsmoke and
cordite ensue, but in the aftermath Mr Yam and Mr Fong become partners again, wishing only
for peace, prosperity and to quietly sweep away any reminders of their foolhardy war -
reminders such as Martin and Jack. Loyalty is the big theme of this movie: do you do the
right thing by your brothers or your boss? Each character faces that question and each
finds a different answer, even if it means following it all the way to the graveyard - but
as the title says, a hero never dies.
Lau Ching Wan is excellent, even with a bad moustache and
a cowdy hat. He is the man to watch in Hong Kong film at the moment, self-assured and with
style to spare. Leon Lai is less successful, mostly because about all he
does is look noble and/or puzzled - but he does both very well, so he gets by. He
certainly has the looks to carry the archetype he's playing here, and when he walks in
slow-mo into the bar with the light streaming behind him and the theme music playing, you
know that old fashioned heroes are back in movies.
The women in this film are also first rate - strong performances and
strong roles. Fiona (Fiona Leung) and Yoyo (Yoyo Mung)
are Martin and Jack's respective girlfriends, and both have different ideas about what it
takes to be the woman of a big time gangster. They are committed and pro-active, and
provide the best scenes in the film. Their parts in the story allow A Hero Never Dies
to at times transcend the male-centric films of John Woo (Wai Ka-Fai
directed Peace Hotel for Woo, so he knows the turf well enough).
As you'd also expect, there's action aplenty. The stand-out is a stakeout
in the rain at a cheapo Thai motel, which at once evokes film noir and westerns, with even
a bit of Aliens thrown in as hordes of gangsters crash down through the roof.
The film does threaten to drown in its own myth-making. The scene where
Jack and his buddies stand tall and piss up against towering trees while the theme music
booms goes clear across the border into parody without a visa, with a return trip a few
scenes later when Martin and his buddies piss up against the same trees to the same music.
That highlights another problem with the story, in that everything has to happen twice,
once for each side. Two gangsters + two girls + two gang bosses + two gangs - it's the
Noah's Ark principal of screenwriting. It also has a streak of melodrama wider than
Kowloon Bay, so if that bugs you, stay well clear.
I loved it though, and with only a month left of 1998, it's looking like
the film of the year for me. Here's an easy test to decide whether A Hero Never Dies
is going to do it for you: Do you think the sight of a legless gangster pushing himself
along on a trolley in dogged pursuit of vengeance is (a) a stirring image of a man who
will go to any length to find redemption, (b) a dodgy treatment of disability issues, or
(c) a bit silly? If your answer is (a), grab your buddies and walk tall into the nearest
screening of this Hong Kong gangster gem.
Available on: VCD and DVD.
Warning: tiny subtitles on the VCD.
HITMAN (1998)
An elderly Yakuza boss takes a bullet in the opening scene, but as he does so he
threatens his masked assailant with the news that he has salted away $100 million in a
special vengeance fund. It's no bluff; and even before the evil old boy's ashes are cold
the most skilled hitmen in the world start arriving in Hong Kong to join the hunt for the
mysterious "King of Killers". One such hopeful is Tai Feng (Jet Li),
a hitman with a track record of zero; he is so darn nice that he has yet to bump anyone
off. Lacking both a reputation and a tux, he is barred entry from the killer's convention
until conman Sam Wong (Eric Tsang) cottons on to the kid's potential and
steps in as his agent. Once Tai has been dressed for success (a hilarious scene about the
importance of wardrobe in the killing game), they hit the trail. Like many Hong Kong
films, Hitman is about honour and family. Sam is the despair of his law student
daughter (Gigi Leung), but he just can't stop his swindling ways. The
Yakuza's grandson has his own notions of filial obligation, which involve him personally
avenging gramps' death (and thereby keeping the $100M in the family). A showdown between
the factions is inevitable, despite the best attempts of the HK police (Simon Yam)
to deport anybody with "professional assassin" on their entry visa. Hardened
action fans might be irritated by the screen time devoted to Sam's wacky schemes, but rest
assured that the film's final fights provide a rousing finish to Jet Li's Hong Kong
career. Note that this is also the first time that Jet has used his real voice in a film -
he is usually dubbed, so as not to offend HK moviegoers with his outrageous mainland
accent! (Thanks to the Small Potato for that HK factoid.).
Available on: Chinatown Video, VCD and DVD.
I HAVE A DATE WITH SPRING
(1994)
A young singer forges enduring friendships with three other young women in a Hong Kong
club in the forties, but when she hits the big time she must inevitably leave them -- and
her poor-but-proud musician boyfriend refuses to follow her. Twenty years later, the now
successful singer returns to the club, to give one last gala performance before it is torn
down. I Have a Date with Spring shuttles stylishly between past and present Hong
Kong. Its strength lies in its evocation of the period and the build-up of the friendship
between the four women. Between ourselves, the boyfriend is a bit of a drip, but we all
want him to come back, if only because he wrote the title song, "I Have a Date with
Spring", so he has to return to play the saxophone for the finale.
Apparently this movie was an unexpected hit. During the summer of its release, it was
seen by three out of four women in HK. It is easy to see why. Although superficially about
Romance, at a deeper level it is concerned with the maintenance of the women's friendships
-- and their hopes and dreams -- across the long, deep time from youth to age.
Reviewed by Penelope Love.
Available on: VCD. Screens
occasionally on SBS.
LOVE GENERATION HONG KONG (1998)
I liked this movie. I just want to make that clear, because just about everything I say
from now on will be to trash it. But I enjoyed watching it, particularly as I had spent
the previous hour and a half getting the eyeballs flayed clean out of my skull by Cheap
Killers, and I needed something to calm me down. This did the trick.
Bill Kay (Leon Lai) gets dumped in the rain in front of a fast-food
chain restaurant by girlfriend Maggie (Carina Lau), who figures that if
they marry they are doomed to a mortgage and 1.5 children. Flash forward six years (always
be suspicious of a film made in 1998 that is set in 1992), and our boy Bill is a
fabulously wealthy broker with squillions of cashola and the super glamorous movie star
Joey (Hsu Chi) for a girlfriend and the doting super-organised Moon (Lee
Ann d'Alexandry d'Orengiani) for a secretary. A chance meeting with Maggie
rekindles the old affair, but is rudely snuffed out with her news that she is marrying an
ex-triad named Peace in two weeks time. Bill resolves to get her back, apparently figuring
that he'll work out what to do about Joey and Peace when the time comes.
It's a love triangle or three, the old tried and true HK romance formula. Who will Bill
go with? Will Peace be happy, or will his knife-scarred heart be broken? Will Joey be
"crazily wooed" in the style to which she is accustomed? Will Bill ever notice
doe-eyed Moon, or is she doomed to collecting his sticky-notes as mementoes of a love that
never was? It's certainly enough to sustain ninety minutes of goings-on, even though most
of that is spent on the various couple combinations breaking up or making up.
But our man Wong Jing is in the director's chair, and he can't resist
tossing his trademark handful of hilarious hijinx into the mix. These provide a few
chortles, but rarely a crack-up, and their craziness actually undoes the mood of romantic
melodrama that the film spends most of its time cultivating. I know HK film is
exhilarating for its melting pot of styles, but having Carina Lau deliver a really good
analysis of modern relationships in one scene and then have two lecherous dental
assistants called Quicky (Fast-Beat) and Slowy (Slow-Beat)
ham it up in the next is asking for just a bit too much mental rearrangement. I will say
that some of the wacked-out bits are pretty good in their own right, particularly the
ashtray scene at the dentist's, and the Lady Di car crash gag that goes past so
subliminally you might not even notice it.
Things aren't helped by the fact that Leon's idea of acting in this one is to grin
amiably or sulk prettily, depending on whether it's a break-up or make-up scene. He's very
likeable, but it's not quite enough, especially if you've seen him combine his likeability
with three-dimensional characterisation in Comrades, Almost a Love Story. He's
just Leon in this one, but I guess he's the franchise after all. I certainly don't buy him
as a killer Wall Street businessman, particularly when the only scene in which we see him
flexing his fiscal faculties dissolves into a series of Homer Simpsonesque fantasies about
humiliating his business associate, complete with fits of giggles at the negotiating
table.
When the movie fights free of the gags that hold it back, there are some lovely scenes.
The image of Moon making paper planes of Bill's post-it notes and paffing them out of the
taxi window on the way to the airport is quite affecting, as is the use of the old HK
airport as both a backdrop and a metaphor. And after all, you really can't bring yourself
to totally dislike a film which has the line "I just want my crystal apple in my
heart to return".
Available on: VCD.
LOVE ON A DIET (2001)
How will your loved one[s] react if you suddenly put on 200 pounds? Will they love you any less? Does being beautiful = thin? What sort of message is this film trying to send? These questions whizzed through my head as I watched
Love on A Diet, Johnnie To's latest offering, with HK's über popstars, Sammi Cheng and Andy Lau [suffering for their art by packing on heavy sumo suits]. These human insecurities form the basis for the premise of
Love On A Diet.
The cast might be fat but the plot is skinny: Mini [Sammi] has a mission [some say impossible] - to lose weight so she can win back her boyfriend. She gets a helping hand from her new friend Fatso [Andy]. No, I didn't make those names up.
There, 3 lines.
So what makes this movie watchable? For me, it was To's capable direction, which provided many hilarious and well-executed scenes, especially of Mini's desperate attempts to lose weight. The Sammi and Andy combination [last seen in
Needing You] possibly two of HK's skinniest actors, also earns a notch in my book. The location [Japan] gave the film a unique backdrop. And most importantly it's damn funny.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie despite a few misgivings [Mini's character was a little grating] I guess if I could stop being 'serious film nitpicker' then
Love On A Diet would be a highly amusing and entertaining film. It seems to be that way for the rest of the audience, judging from the happy laughter around me. [Stat of interest: Love On A Diet was the second highest grossing film at Hoyts Cinema, George St.
on its opening weekend!]
Even with the critical hat on, Love On A Diet was still hell of a fun movie.
Whatever the message the film might have had [if it had one at all] certainly didn't stick on me because my pal and I were off to a local sushi bar straight after. The delicious Japanese food in the film was just too much to bear.
Reviewed by Ching Yee
A LOVE STORY (1998)
Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I think I have been watching too many Hong Kong movies. This
one is about a nightclub hostess (Josie Ho) who falls for the blind
piano-playing son (Andy Hui) of her landlord... or maybe he falls for her
... whatever. If you are looking for an example of that most prolific of genres, the
Cliched Hong Kong Disability Romance, then this could be the one for you. The plot follows
that standard HK romance line of They Can't Be Together Because His Pride Won't Allow It.
Anyway, the problem is, I enjoyed it. Look, it was a double with Expect the
Unexpected, so if I was going to be sitting there, I may as well be having a good
time, okay? Andy and Josie are both very pleasant, and
it features the Happy Louth Orchestra. How can you miss that? I can see you're not
convinced.
Available on: C'mon, do you really care? VCD,
anyway.
THE LOVERS (1994)
The Lovers (aka the Butterfly Lovers) starts off in a seemingly
unstoppable high spirits as scapegrace heiress Ying-toi (Charlie Yeung),
the despair of her wealthy parents, is disguised as a boy and sent off to college to learn
ways to bring honour to her family (principally, it seems, by learning by rote the 330
Classic Poets). There she has to keep her secret from the rest of her class, while falling
hopelessly in love with poor-but-proud charity student, Shan-pak (Nicky Wu)
(who reciprocates the emotion to such an extent that he spends most of the movie wondering
if he's "sissy"). The college days are a sunny laugh-riot of wacky
misunderstandings and hilarious hi-jinks as Ying tries to cheats her way through her exams
without getting caught. The film then proceeds to do an inexorable nose-dive into tragedy
-- what you get if you start with Much Ado About Nothing and end with Romeo
and Juliet.
The two main leads are excellent, moving from light-hearted students to doomed lovers,
as they are destroyed by the same headstrong loyalty that brought them together. They are
show-cased by a superb supporting cast, including the two loyal but feckless servants, the
butler Cheung Kwai and the aptly named Ingenue, and stand-out performances from Ying-toi's
mum and Shan-pak's best friend, the monk (who, in true tragic style, share a secret from
the past that sets the stage for the present). In the end, a movie that started so
light-heartedly ends in a young bride weeping tears of blood, and a doomed bridal
procession sets off under the gaze of the vengeful dead. This film effortlessly combines a
four star romantic comedy with a four hankie weepie. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Reviewed by Penelope Love.
Available on: VCD.
MY FATHER IS HERO (1995)
A wonderful action melodrama which delivers in every department: characters, story,
action, and mystery (like, what the hell happened to the indefinite article in the title
sentence?). Jet Li plays a Mainlander with a secret who joins a HK gang,
and astounding kung-fu kid actor Tze Miu is his son who is left behind to
take care of mum and wonder why the Chinese Army turned up to arrest dad. The heroic Anita
Mui shows up as a Hongkie cop who is also on our man Jet's trail, unsure if he's
a good guy or a bad guy. As if we didn't know already. Along the way you get police car
driving into restaurant fu, Jet Li outrunning garbage truck fu, outrageous stuffed
alsation fu (which is just as well, considering what Jet does to them),
playground towell-fighting (kung fu style), and an admittedly silly but who cares scene
where Jet twirls the kid around on a rope like a human yoyo. This is Jet's most successful
attempt to lose the Wong Fei Hong ponytail and prove that he is both a modern action hero
and the most charismatic actor at work today.
Available on: Chinatown
Video, VCD.
H E R O I C * C I N E M A
http://www.heroic-cinema.com
