My Week 4/20 - 4/26
Zodiac Killers - 1991 - Ann Hui
Set in Tokyo in a post economic miracle Japan, two students from Hong Kong get caught up in Yakuza intrigue. Cherie Chung, in one of her last roles before retiring from film, plays Meng Tieh-Lan, a student by day and hostess bar girl by night. Andy Lau is Ben Li, a nerdy type with a habit of not attending class. They meet at the bar Tieh-Lan is working at which happens to be run by the fiancée of Ben's friend Ming. For him it is love at first sight, for her no so much. Tieh-Lan gets together with a man connected to the Yakuza and things do not go well.
This world bleak and dark. The only character not hurt for being in the universe as Tein-Lan and Ben is Ben's pal Chang Chih because he is allowed to remain ignorant.
Lupin the Third: Jigen's Gravestone - 2014 - Takeshi Koike
Takeshi Koike, the director of 2009's amazing Redline, does a Lupin in the vane as A Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Lupin and Jigen have to stop an assassin working for an East Germany like country. Of course Fujiko gets kidnapped and locked naked in a glass box with an oiled floor. It is in the top tier of Lupin because it gets the Lupin and Jigen relationship right.
Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind - 1980 - Tsui Hark
Opening with a scene of animal torture, that would have had the ASPCA all over the production if it were from the US, Hark portends the dark nature of his film. The rains pours down and the news reports tell of washed out housing and drowned school boys. This Hong Kong is cold and uncaring lacking the moral code that would come to signify the heroic bloodshed films of the mid eighties and beyond.
Hark brings a manic energy to Dangerous Encounters, rarely stopping even for a moment. That is for the best as the world he is showing is one of pure nihilism. Both the locals, in the form of the triads, and the foreigners, represented by a group of arms dealers, are out to do harm to everyone around. This is a not so subtle way of Hark showing that he does not believe either the British colonial government or the locals are doing any good. Either way we all lose.
We're Going To Eat You - 1980 - Tsui Hark
Being made just prior to Dangerous Encounters, We're Going To Eat You shares many of the same themes but presents them in a much lighter way. The movie takes place in a village of cannibals ruled over by a greedy police chief. Agent 999 from the Central Surveillance Agency comes to town looking for a thief called "Rolex". Of course 999 is force to fight the cannibals to get out of town alive. The plot of this and Dangerous Encounters have nothing in common but the settings both point to Hark's negative view of the Hong Kong government at the time. Both movies exist in worlds populated with people that are out to cause you harm. What is worse is that even the evil people in the cannibal village have issues with state corruption. What is the world coming to when you can't even depend on your fellow cannibals to share the meat?
People's Hero - 1987 - Derek Yee Tung-Sing
Clearly inspired by Dog Day Afternoon. Two young men go into a bank with the intention to rob the join. The big difference here is that the would be bank robbers lose control of their hostage situation when a triad that happened to be in the bank pulls a gun. Over the course of the day we see that the triad named Sunny is not that bad of a guy. Sunny wants to get his girlfriend out of jail so they can escape and go to the Philippines. Tony Leung Ka-Fai is police Captain Chan, the man that has been working Sunny's case and is looking to take him in rather than have the snipers kill him as the rest of the cops want.
The characters are excellently realized. Everyone here has depth and everyone is given moments.
Best of the Week: Zodiac Killers - 1991 - Ann Hui
Set in Tokyo in a post economic miracle Japan, two students from Hong Kong get caught up in Yakuza intrigue. Cherie Chung, in one of her last roles before retiring from film, plays Meng Tieh-Lan, a student by day and hostess bar girl by night. Andy Lau is Ben Li, a nerdy type with a habit of not attending class. They meet at the bar Tieh-Lan is working at which happens to be run by the fiancée of Ben's friend Ming. For him it is love at first sight, for her no so much. Tieh-Lan gets together with a man connected to the Yakuza and things do not go well.
This world bleak and dark. The only character not hurt for being in the universe as Tein-Lan and Ben is Ben's pal Chang Chih because he is allowed to remain ignorant.
Lupin the Third: Jigen's Gravestone - 2014 - Takeshi Koike
Takeshi Koike, the director of 2009's amazing Redline, does a Lupin in the vane as A Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Lupin and Jigen have to stop an assassin working for an East Germany like country. Of course Fujiko gets kidnapped and locked naked in a glass box with an oiled floor. It is in the top tier of Lupin because it gets the Lupin and Jigen relationship right.
Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind - 1980 - Tsui Hark
Opening with a scene of animal torture, that would have had the ASPCA all over the production if it were from the US, Hark portends the dark nature of his film. The rains pours down and the news reports tell of washed out housing and drowned school boys. This Hong Kong is cold and uncaring lacking the moral code that would come to signify the heroic bloodshed films of the mid eighties and beyond.
Hark brings a manic energy to Dangerous Encounters, rarely stopping even for a moment. That is for the best as the world he is showing is one of pure nihilism. Both the locals, in the form of the triads, and the foreigners, represented by a group of arms dealers, are out to do harm to everyone around. This is a not so subtle way of Hark showing that he does not believe either the British colonial government or the locals are doing any good. Either way we all lose.
We're Going To Eat You - 1980 - Tsui Hark
Being made just prior to Dangerous Encounters, We're Going To Eat You shares many of the same themes but presents them in a much lighter way. The movie takes place in a village of cannibals ruled over by a greedy police chief. Agent 999 from the Central Surveillance Agency comes to town looking for a thief called "Rolex". Of course 999 is force to fight the cannibals to get out of town alive. The plot of this and Dangerous Encounters have nothing in common but the settings both point to Hark's negative view of the Hong Kong government at the time. Both movies exist in worlds populated with people that are out to cause you harm. What is worse is that even the evil people in the cannibal village have issues with state corruption. What is the world coming to when you can't even depend on your fellow cannibals to share the meat?
People's Hero - 1987 - Derek Yee Tung-Sing
Clearly inspired by Dog Day Afternoon. Two young men go into a bank with the intention to rob the join. The big difference here is that the would be bank robbers lose control of their hostage situation when a triad that happened to be in the bank pulls a gun. Over the course of the day we see that the triad named Sunny is not that bad of a guy. Sunny wants to get his girlfriend out of jail so they can escape and go to the Philippines. Tony Leung Ka-Fai is police Captain Chan, the man that has been working Sunny's case and is looking to take him in rather than have the snipers kill him as the rest of the cops want.
The characters are excellently realized. Everyone here has depth and everyone is given moments.
Best of the Week: Zodiac Killers - 1991 - Ann Hui
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