Election

[Drunk Monk]

A HK gangster flick - similar to Outrage, but instead of Yakuza, it was all Hung Triad, which has it's own unique trappings of honor and deceit. There's some nice nods to Hung culture, but you'd have to really know triad/martial arts culture to appreciate it. The triad holds an election for the new chairman (thus the title). That's right - the triads hold elections. To quote Greg 'who knew?' Simon Yam wins. There's a dispute. There's a chase to get this little carved rod, which is the symbol of the chairman's authority. Like Outrage, there's this building tension about gangster diplomacy. One mistake and there will be a war. I don't know how many times they said 'there's going to be a war'. Towards the latter third of the flick, there's a fight with shuiguo dao aka watermelon knives (common with triads like tantos are common with yakuza) basically machetes, which count as swords. It's a good fight - a gritty hack fest in an alley. I was thinking 'oh yea, here comes the war!' I've been waiting all movie for this war to explode. There's no freaking war. Simon Yam is too cool and diffuses it all. There's a final moment of extreme violence, the sort that only Simon can deliver, but ultimately, the war was just a tease. This film was critically acclaimed, but I found it rather disappointing. Who wants to see a gangster flick without a war? Better to watch a movie about rival cheerleader factions or something.

[thatguy]

It doesn't sound like a remake of this:



--tg

[Drunk Monk]

...that looks like a war.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

That would be the war without any real fighting?

[cranefly]

Wow, that poster with Matthew Broderick in Reese Witherspoon's mouth -- it just shouts out to be reviewed.
But I'll restrain myself.

I just checked my saved history of Netflix rentals from back in the day, and I actually saw Election (the Chinese version, not the version with Matthew Broderick inside Reese Witherspoon's mouth that shouts out to be reviewed). I gave it four out of five stars. But I don't have much of a memory of it.

The thing about Triad flicks is that they can be trippy for the first few dozen of them that you see. So maybe this was one of the first 50 triad movies I'd seen. After that, they start getting old fast.

Wish I could remember more of it... Directed by Johnny To, right? There's been times when I've really gotten into his films. But at other times I've felt his characters were mere gun extensions.

[Drunk Monk]

It was really all about Simon Yam, who is cool and collected, like always. Never mess with Simon. He'll fuck your bizness up big time. And he'll look cool and collected while doing it.