Chinatown Video releases for July 1999
Weasel Alert: I occasionally do a bit
of work for Chinatown Video. This month I wrote the video cover blurb for Sixty
Million Dollar Man.
A BETTER TOMORROW (1986) Rated R.
Rental only.
This is where legends were made. Little known director John Woo was
hired to direct a gangster film, but had the idea that it would use the warrior code of a
swordplay film, exchanging the swords for guns. In the role of the lead killer he cast
television drama star Chow Yun Fat, against the wishes of the studio, but
Yun Fat had exactly the right 'everyman' qualities that Woo
was looking for. He plays Mark Gor, the close buddy of fellow triad member Ho (Ti
Lung, a veteran Shaw Bros actor). Ho's brother Kit (pop star Leslie
Cheung) is a trainee policemen, making for some strained family relations. The
tension between the brothers comes to boiling point, as will your television: it all
started here, the slo-mo gunfights, the trademark bullet ballets, the sharp suits and
liberal armament. The body count is not as excessive as Hard Boiled (Woo worked
his way up to that), but the director has rarely equalled the perfect pitch of this fine
story of honour and betrayal. The box office went wild; that summer in Hong Kong every
young man who considered himself stylish was wearing a "Mark coat", despite the
sweltering heat. This one is not to be missed; if you've never seen where the CYF
/ Woo partnership all began, you're in for a treat.
FIRST OPTION (1996) Rated MA. $29.95.
You'd think with that title it would be the first in Gordon Chan's
popular series about SDU team members (basically the Hong Kong SWAT team equivalent).
Actually, the first one was Final Option (1994), then First Option
(1996), then Option Zero (1997). You can see why I got confused. Anyway, Michael
Wong stars as usual, along with Gigi Leung. Action design is by Bruce
Extreme Crisis Law. Expect things to blow up a lot.
I'll tell you more when I've actually watched the thing...
IRMA VEP (1996) French, with English
subtitles. Rated M. 97 mins. $29.95.
This is a French satire about film-making, with a strong Hong Kong connection. A famous
but flaky French director sees Maggie Cheung in The Heroic Trio,
and decides she is perfect for the role of the French silent movie vampire Irma Vep.
Maggie arrives in France, with no idea about the film, and not a word of French. Meanwhile
the crew are all feuding with each other, the producer is having kittens, and the director
is getting flakier by the minute... There are so many films about films which should be
made, but this one is a gem, if only to watch Maggie Cheung playing
herself! It is directed by Olivier Assayas.
SIXTY MILLION DOLLAR MAN (1996) Rated
M. $29.95.
Even by Stephen Chow's standards, this one is delirious. He plays Lee
Chak Sing, a rich kid studying medicine in Honolulu (cue autopsy gags here).
Unfortunately, an unwise tangle with a mobster's wife leaves Sing halfly dead - only his
lips and brain survive. However, that's enough to rebuild him, but a funding shortage at
the operating table leaves him as more of a moronic man than a bionic one. That's enough
premise for a good 90 minutes of slapstick, padded out with some wicked parodies of Pulp
Fiction and The Mask. Regular partner Ng Man Tat co-stars,
and Gigi Leung is the romantic interest - not that you can tell at first,
as she is dressed as an el-dorko version of her character from Full Throttle.
Although it may leave you with a lingering aftertaste of "Copacabana", this is
another laff riot from the brilliant comic mind of Stephen Chow.
