Background
Dante Lam Chiu Yin's has worked with
director/producer Gordon Chan Ka-Seung for some years. He was first
credited as an assistant director on 1995's Thunderbolt. The
first film he directed was 1997's Option Zero (produced by
Chan). Next up was 1998's Beast Cops (co-directed with Chan),
and then 1999's romance When I Look Upon the Stars (produced by
Chan).
The film was released theatrically in
Hong Kong in September 2000. It is the latest from production
company One Hundred Years of Film (in which Gordon Chan Ka-Seung is a
principal). The first three were the highly successful Needing
You . . ., Okinawa
Rendez-vous, and HelpIII.
Foreground
Initially, the film appears to be The
Mission told from the point of view of the triad boss (Tony Leung Ka-fai)
whose life has been threatened -- who wants to kill him and why? The
film then spins off in a different direction as it examines those closest
to him (through voice-over narration by the boss and judicious use of
flashbacks): his wife (Sandra Ng Kwun-yue), his bodyguard (Roy
Cheung Yiu-yeung), his counselor (Chan Fai-hung), and his mistress (Lee
San-San), as well as a police inspector trainee (Eason Chan Yik Shun) and
a young Triad wanna-be boss (Pang King-Chi).
As the film progresses, director Lam
uses his stylistic bag of tricks (slow motion, freeze frames, extreme
close-ups) more sparingly and more effectively. Tommy Wai
Kai-Leung's musical score -- by turns chirpy, somber, and haunting --
adorns rather than distracts. (Quite a complement when you consider
that the composer is credited with no less than thirteen scores
this year). The performances are of uniform good quality. The
script by veteran writer Chan Hing-Kar (A Better Tomorrow as well
as First Option, Task Force, Option Zero, Hitman, Beast Cops, Okinawa
Rendez-vous) and Amy Chin Siu-Wai (her first credit as a writer)
features well-written dialogue but at least one plot twist so bizarre that
it broke the mood of the film for me. Scenes played for laughs
provide a welcome change of pace and are integrated well into the
plot. As the credits roll, the aftertaste is exceedingly
pleasant. This is an intelligent effort, well-made if falling short
of the top tier.
The film is rated Category IIB. At
least two sequences are explicit in their depiction of blood and gore, one
involving guns and the other knives.
DVD: look, sound, and features
A surprisingly fine job by Mei Ah, a
company which has not distinguished itself in past DVD
presentations. The fleshtones are natural, the blacks are quite
deep, and the colors look accurate. There are just a few
imperfections in the source print.
Both Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 Cantonese and Mandarin audio tracks are provided.
I listened to the Cantonese 5.1 track and it sounded excellent. Traditional and simplified
Chinese removable subtitles are provided in addition to English; the English titles
are large, white, easy to read, well-timed with few mistakes.
The disk is divided into 9 chapters with
no time coding. The
"data bank" contains a cast and crew listing and the synopsis
from the back of the disk. The "best buy" consists of
trailers for A War Named Desire (intriguing) and, disorienting as
it may be, the American film U-571 (in English with Chinese
subtitles).
Buy, rent, or pass?
Rent. An intriguing and different
triad movie, Jiang Hu "The Triad Zone" definitely merits
at least one look, and may well be worth a purchase and multiple viewings.
(Reviewed 12/20/00)
