Blockbuster Busters
What to do in L.A. when you've had it with threquels
By Andy Klein
In an overcrowded movie marketplace, the big films hog too much ink and attention, and we're as complicit as the next alternative weekly. Let's rectify this inequity by looking at smaller stuff - in this case, some worthy films that you should rush out to, since they are probably only going to be around for a week, either through design or popular indifference.
Opportunities to see Hong Kong movies on the big screen have diminished horribly from the early '90s glory days of the HK explosion. One might have thought that the success of Martin Scorsese's The Departed would have at least led to bookings for its source film, Infernal Affairs, or its two sequels, but the Andrew Lau Wai-Keung/Alan Mak Siu-Fai trilogy never showed up on L.A. screens. Still, it's probably thanks to the Scorsese film that Tartan Films is releasing Election (2005) and Triad Election (2006), a pair of Johnnie To titles in a similar vein.
Incredibly eclectic director To has a resume that includes superheroine action films (The Heroic Trio, with Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui), thrillers (Lifeline), wacky comedies (Wu Yen), and high-octane crime epics (Fulltime Killer). The Election films are about triads (i.e., gangsters), but they have little in common stylistically with Fulltime Killer or most other HK entries in the genre. While there are a few scenes of extreme violence, none of it is presented in an adrenaline-pumping, "Whoa! Cool!" way. The tone is closer to Infernal Affairs and closer yet to The Godfather.
For more than a hundred years, the bosses of Wo Sing - Hong Kong's largest triad family - have held an election every two years to decide who gets to be the new chief. As Election starts, the obvious choice is Lok (Simon Yam Tat-Wah), but outgoing chief Whistle is supporting upstart candidate Big D (Tony Leung Ka-Fai, not to be confused with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, of Infernal Affairs and Hero).
"Big D" probably stands for "Big Derangement," as this arrogant loose cannon would be a catastrophic leader. The bosses vote unequivocally for Lok, but Big D has no qualms about breaking a century of tradition. His ace in the hole is another old tradition: The symbol of leadership is the Dragon Head Baton, a sceptre that he can get from Whistle ... if Lok's men don't reach its hiding place first.
Lok remains a calm, rational opponent throughout. He seems as admirable as a triad boss could be - a devoted father to his motherless adolescent son. But the notion that anyone can keep the violence of his profession separate from his personal life proves, of course, to be an illusion.
Any discussion of Triad Election necessarily gives away some of the ending of its predecessor (as does a mere perusal of the cast list). I don't think these spoilers ruin the experience, but skip the next paragraph if you're hypersensitive about such matters. Indeed, Triad Election can be appreciated on its own, though it loses some thematic resonance when viewed first.
As the sequel starts, Lok's two years are drawing to a close, but power has changed him. Now he's the one wanting to break tradition by running for a second term against the wishes of the council. His new struggle is against Jimmy (Louis Koo, reprising a small part in the original), a slick, educated young man with major connections in the Chinese government.
Both films are brilliant examples of the post-John Woo gangster film in Hong Kong. The violence, even when offscreen, is raw and realistic. There are no beautiful explosions or shootouts. Both are powered by story and by insight into the messy dynamics of triad politics. And both - but more notably Triad Election - suggest that there are parallels to Hong Kong's broader political situation running right beneath the surface. If the first film is slightly better, it's because, as an actor, pretty-boy Koo is not in a league with Leung.
Special mention has to be made of the performance of Wong Tin-Lam as Uncle Teng, the eldest of the elders. Wong, now nearly 80, directed scores of films in the '50s and sired the equally prolific Wong Jing. Here he's the center of gravity, a squinty old man with the body of Jabba the Hut, embodying the weary, sometimes ironic wisdom that comes from surviving so long in a violent business. In one scene, all the principals are in jail, and Teng is going from cell to cell trying to broker a peace agreement. But the jailers have naturally confiscated everyone's belts, so the old guy has to keep adjusting his ever-slipping pants. It's just a little bit of character business, but wonderfully executed.
Another see-it-while-you-can event this week is the American Cinematheque's one-week presentation of Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain! The film was shot silent and will be presented for the first four days of its run with an 11-piece orchestra, five sound effects artists, a live narrator, and (allegedly) a singing castrato. It's an experience that has to be seen/heard to be believed. Maddin will be on hand; the narrators (one per night) are B-movie icon Barbara Steele, Lemony Snicket author Daniel Handler, and the inimitable Udo Kier. The final three days will eschew live elements for standard projection of a print featuring Isabella Rossellini on a recorded, mixed soundtrack.
Maddin's surreal melodrama/comedies aren't built around normal, easy-to-summarize plots. In this case, the whole thing revolves around a house painter named Guy Maddin (Erik Steffen Maahs), who returns to the tiny island where he was raised, only to be immersed in horrific memories of his crazed mother (Gretchen Krich), his mad-scientist father (Todd Jefferson Moore), and love-starved sister (Maya Lawson).
If Maddin's hero suffers from a surfeit of memory, the hero of Yukihiko Tsutsumi's Memories of Tomorrow is plagued by the opposite. Mr. Saeki (Ken Watanabe) is a high-powered, 49-year-old ad man, whose obsession with work has made him a less-than-attentive husband and father to wife Emiko (Kanako Higuchi) and soon-to-be-married daughter Rie (Kazue Fukiishi). But Saeki is suddenly experiencing disorientation and memory glitches. The diagnosis - early-onset Alzheimers - is devastating ... as is the film.
This would be a totally manipulative disease-of-the-week movie, were it not for Tsutsumi's gentle direction and Watanabe's intense performance (for which he won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Actor). It's horribly moving to watch the hale Watanabe - who played the commander in Letters from Iwo Jima - deteriorating.
Published: 06/07/2007
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