Weekly DVD Pick - Several Johnnie To Films
It is one of those weeks where there really is not anything that interests me for new DVD purchases. Perhaps I might pick up the Heroes Season 1 DVD set but I going to try to keep the DVD picks limited to movies generally so I won’t list it here. In its place I’ve decided to highlight a director that a lot of people in North America have not seen or heard of, Johnnie To.
Election
When I think of Johnie To, I think of excellent Triad drama pieces that are filmed very well and are often violent but not necessarily action movies. My first run in with one of his films was Election (Hak se wui). Triad films around this time had become pretty stale and typical and To blew the rest out of the water with his complex tale of two competing prospective Chairmen. A lot of Triad movies try to show the Triads as honourable men who respect the tradition behind Triads themselves. It first appears that To’s movie will follow the trend but it becomes quickly evident that the contenders really do not care about the traditions. Greed is what drives these men and they are willing to do anything to take control. I really recommend checking Election out. It is one of To’s finer movies and is an excellent Triad movie that doesn’t resort to action to tell the story.
Election 2
Election 2 (Hak se wui yi wo wai kwai) came out the following year in 2006. In Election To gave us only a hint of how he sees the Triads. In Election 2 the main characters are taken apart even more and it becomes evident just how little humanity the Triads have. Election 2 takes place at the end of the new Chairman’s two year term (I’m not going to spoil Election by saying which one from the original movie managed to take control) and the chairman is now searching for any way that he can keep himself in power. Tradition dictates that he should step down yet he is not willing too. He uses his allies in an attempt to keep power. The story revolves around a greedy vain man trying to keep himself on top no matter what. I prefer Election over Election 2 but it is still an excellent character study and worth checking out.
Breaking News
Breaking News (Daai si gin) actually came out in 2004 yet I saw it after seeing Election and Election 2. When I purchased it I did not even realize that it was a Johnnie To film. I was mostly just intrigued by the cover and the idea of criminals and the Police both using the media for their own means. Breaking News is more action based that the Election movies but it is not just an action movie. It does wonderful job satirizing media and how it is “spun” by everyone involved. The opening scene is a shoot out at between a group of thieves and the police which matches and perhaps even exceeds the shoot out scenes of Michael Mann. During this initial shoot out the police are made to look bad by the thieves and there is a public uproar. In order to fix their reputation the Police start to use their own footage to manipulate the “audience” into seeing what they want during the eventual capture of the thieves.
The Mission
This summer I tracked down a copy of To’s Exiled (Fong juk). Just before I watched it I discovered that it is a sequel to an earlier movie called The Mission (Cheung fo). I proceeded to pick this up and I’m really glad I did. The mission tells of team of Triad members who are put together to guard a boss when some stuff goes wrong. Initially the team doesn’t work well but eventually they become a well oiled machine until one of them screws up. The team is ordered to kill their new friend and loyalties are put to the test. What really makes this movie work for me is the scenes in which the main characters are shown to bond. My favorite scene is such a simple scene that highlights the different personalities involved but shows just how close they are becoming. The scene simply involves the five of them waiting for a meeting and one of them starts to kick around a rolled up ball of paper. The Mission is not anywhere near as complex as the Election movies nor does it contain the satire of Breaking News. It also romanticizes the Triad members more than the other movies but overall it is a fun story.
Exiled
Exiled (Fong juk) carries on where The Mission finishes. It is a few years later and members of the team are called together to kill one of their friends. There is just something about this movie that feels like a western to me. I believe that it is the sense of honor and justice that each of the main characters shows and also the hunt for a golden treasure. Initially the team is split into two and they even come to blows, in another well filmed gun fight but eventually they start to reminisce and they decide to help their friend out on one last heist so that they can give the money to his family. Things of course start to fall apart for the team and this leads them off their quest to find a treasure. Just like The Mission, Exiled romanticizes the main characters. They truly are a band of outlaws that would fit in any western movie. I did find that the continuity between the two movies felt a bit convoluted and not explained well enough but both were still very enjoyable with some good action scenes and simple yet fun stories.
Johnnie To has been very busy his entire career. Over on IMDB he is listed as the director of 46 titles between 1980 and now. He seems to average close to two movies a year. The five movies I have seen have all been worth watching and when I get a chance I’ll check out more of his work.
You must be logged in to post a comment.