10/10
Great New Hong Kong Action
20 December 2000
One of the best films to come out of Hong Kong in many years. The cinematography is an outstanding play on Chris Doyle's Wong Kar Wai films. This is the story of an inept group of gangsters and Kau, the poor sap, played by the great Lau Ching Wan, who gets mixed up with them. The story is told twice a la Sliding Doors. Kau makes two different choices and we see the outcomes. The film is hilarious and sometimes a little sad. The star is the stunningly acrobatic camerawork. Two scenes are shot upside down, a shootout is filmed entirely in the dark, wide angle lenses abound. The film never stops moving and never stops surprising. A 10 out of 10. Some have said it is an allegory for the Handover, and I can see it. Kau's choices are Hong Kong's, and that makes this a very subversive film. Either way, it's an amazingly entertaining experience.
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