This movie is available for purchase at www.hkflix.com
Rating:
7
Year of release: 2005
Genre: drama
Director: Johnnie To
Writers: Yau Nai Hoi, Yip Ting Shing
Producers: Johnnie To, Dennis Law
Music: Lo Tayu
Cinematography: Cheng Siu Keung
Editor: Patrick Tam
Stars: Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Louis Koo, Lam Suet, Nick Cheung, Eddie Cheung, Gordon Lam, Wong Tin-Lam, Tam Bing-Man, Maggie Shaw
Rated III for violence, language, and realistic depection of Triad rituals
DVD Information
Company: Panorama
Format: widescreen
Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin
Subtitles: Chinese, English
Extras: trailers
Notes: Not much for extras -- big fans of the film will probably want to pick up the 2-disc special edition.
Related links:
Simon Yam biography
Movie Review index
Main Page
Election
Johnnie To is best known for his quirky crime thrillers like The Mission, but most of his output (both as a producer and director) over the past couple of the years has been more mainstream fare like Yesterday Once More. Election seemingly marked a return to "classic" To fare; even the production of the movie resulted in some controversy when the production was slapped with a Category III rating (Hong Kong's version of the NC-17 label) due to its' "glorification" of Triad gangs. This sort of story only served to whet the appetite of many, and Election becme one of the most anticipated pictures of the year. But To takes the film in a direction which may puzzle or even downright infuriate fans of his older work.
Election's plot concerns the naming of the new leader of the Wo Shing "society", the largest gang in Hong Kong. There are two leading candidates: Lok (Simon Yam), a diplomat who has wheeled and dealed his way to the top, and Big D (Tony Leung Ka-Fai), a hot-head who used intimidation and bribery to further his career. Uncle Teng (Wong Tin-Lam), one the most influential Wo Shing members, doesn't trust Big D and so convinces the other senior members to vote for Lok. The news doesn't sit well with Big D, who hatches a plan to steal the gang's ceremonial scepter in an attempt to wrangle control from Lok.
The plot might sound simliar to many of Johnnie To's other crime pictures, but the execution is not. It's missing a bit of the spark that made movies like A Hero Never Dies so great. I'm not saying Election is bad by any means -- it's actually quite good -- but if you're expecting The Mission, or something in that caliber, you'll probably be disapointed because there is seemingly so much wasted potential. This is brought to light through both of the performances of Simon Yam and Tony Leung Ka-Fai. They're good, but both characters end up feeling empty to the viewer because we don't know that much about them. To usually does a wonderful job in fleshing out characters, but both Lok and Big D feel underdeveloped, and more minor characters (such as Uncle Teng) barely get any screen time.
Supposedly, the initial cut of Election ran three hours (the theatrical and video versions run at about ninety-nine minutes), so this halving of the footage might explain why everything feels half-full at the end of the picture. Just as things are going along interestingly, the story takes a sharp turn and goes into a conclusion with a sudden, almost shockingly violent, end. This feels like a cheap way to end the picture, especially since it became widely known that To started work on a sequel shortly after this movie was released. Was To intentionally holding back to leave room for the sequel?
These "flaws", I admit, are probably more of my personal nit-picking than anything else, but 2005 was a pretty lackluster year for Hong Kong movies, and I was holding on to some shred of hope that Johnnie To would be able to pull out some sort of Chirstmas miracle and craft another home run, especially since Election was entered into the Cannes film festival (which is still a pretty big deal for a HK production). Judging from the result of Election and the other "big" films of the year like Seven Swords (which marked the beleagured Tsui Hark's attempt re-attain greatness in the director's chair) Hong Kong is going to need to find another big director besides Steven Chow (who only makes one movie every two years) to create big hits for both Asian and Western audiences if they're going to be an economically viable center for film production.
Most of the HK directors, like To, seem to be stuck in a place cinematically between the two cultures, and Election is another example of how this conflict has resulted in (at most times) watered-down versions of the cinematic entires of the 80's and '90's that established Hong Kong as a cinematic powerhouse. Again, Election isn't a bad film per se. It's just that it -- like way too many recent releases from all over the world over the past year -- is disappointing, especially considering the cast and crew involved.
