Election (2005) November 5, 2007
Posted by Cal in : Drama, Thriller, 2000s films , trackbackDirector: Johnnie To Cast: Simon Yam, Tony Leung (Ka-Fai), Wong Chung, Louis Koo, Lam Suet Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Milkyway Image
My Johnnie To season continues with Election, a nasty look into the world of the Triad. The Wo Sing Triad is one of the biggest crime organisations in Hong Kong with an estimated membership of 50,000. Every two years, the leader is elected by a council of elders (or “uncles”), and this year’s contenders are Lok (Simon Yam) and Big D (Tony Leung Ka-Fai). When Big D loses the contest fair and square, he doesn’t take it well and threatens to steal the power from under his rival, something Lok will not allow. The chase is on for the century-old baton which will bestow official leadership to the head of the Wo Sing group, and possibly start a horrific civil war in the process.
Election’s tale of warring Triads, corruption, tradition, political allegories and spoon-eating psychopaths (yes, you read that right) was nominated for a whole bunch of Golden Horse awards in 2006 and even won a few (including Best Picture and Best Director). It is a very well presented film with a great acoustic guitar theme, and Johnny To again shows he’s great at shooting exteriors. The characters are mostly great and believable, but I was quite surprised when I heard that the Tony Leung that was in this film was Leung Ka-Fai and not Leung Chiu-Wai. Maybe To made a mistake and hired the wrong one and couldn’t back out, but this particular Leung overcooks it a bit in my opinion in this one. Yam is excellent as the more restrained Lok, a gangster who also has to contend with family life with his son and I particularly liked Wong Tin-Lam as Teng Wai, a very human “uncle”. Old Shaw Brothers superstar David Chiang also gets a role as an anti-Triad police officer, which surprised me – I thought he’d retired to Canada years ago!
The film does play well as a serious look at organised crime and the consequences of being in such an organisation, but it also has flashes of comedy (such as when the representatives of Lok and Big D resort to sabotaging each other’s cars) which is sometimes very dark. There are also moments of suspense and action when the ceremonial baton is unearthed and transported from the Mainland to Hong Kong. Whoever owns the baton is seen to be in control of the Society, and this means that those who want it will stop at nothing to obtain it.
Election is not an action film or a “Heroic Bloodshed” film; it is more of a crime drama, and one scene reminded me strongly of a scene from Krzysztof Keislowski’s A Short Film About Killing. It’s not all doom and gloom, but it’s not light and fluffy either. It’s also a little confusing in places, which I’m coming to understand is par for the course with a Johnnie To film. I’m thinking another viewing will probably yield more appreciation. I’m not sure if this film is meant to be a satire on the corruptive nature of democracy, but I’m pretty sure one of the lessons taught by the film is that patience is a virtue. Either that or don’t accept invitations to go fishing with someone you once screwed over.
Lam Suet-o-meter: Medium. Mr Lam is the aptly named “Big Head”. Quite a lot of exposure for this part…
Comments»
I absolutely loved this film (I really enjoyed PTU also).
Nice review though. I thought the same thing about Tony Leung
.
A Short Film About Killing: is this film worth getting? Also please explain what scene is similar.
It is funny that you state: “corruptive nature of democracy” yet another review on HKMDB states that it is a communist allegory (he thinks). I’m more inline with the communist thought, but ultimately I think neither is more appropriate (I think To is commenting on the Triads themselves first, allegories either second or neither).
I’m looking forward to doing a full length review on this film (when will be awhile away though
).
I am thinking with another review you might rate it higher
.
So you can see what film I choose to watch this weekend
.
Yes, it’s entirely possible (even probable) that I’ll upgrade this one with another viewing. Sometimes one viewing of a To film isn’t enough. I remember reading that review you mention but I personally picked up on a “democracy” vibe, either rightly or wrongly. It’s been a few months since I’ve seen it so I can’t put a proper argument forward now, but maybe next time.
A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING: this is grim! This is very grim! In fact, it’s an ordeal just to watch it. It makes DOG BITE DOG look like a Disney family movie. There’s a scene where a young man kills a taxi driver with a rock, and I was really reminded of this when I watched ELECTION (you know what I mean!). It’s maybe not a film to buy (I’ll never watch it again!) but certainly one to see once - you’ll never forget it!
Have you seen Election 2 (aka Triad Election)? Saw it this weekend (now this film has a grim, grim scene in it).
It’s another in my long list of films to get. I do definitely want to see it, but I might wait until I’ve seen this one again before I get it as I’ve kind of forgotten a lot of it now
. I hear it’s pretty good though?
my quick comments on the film (it is not better than the first — actually most of the HKMDB reviews are quite hard on this; I think this is a solid film, just no where near the original in terms of cohesion, quality, plot, characters, etc…):
Triad Election (aka Election 2: 2006: HK: ***/****):
Election 2 is a solid sequel to its superior predecessor. I feel this film sometimes strays too much from a satisfactory cohesive whole that the first worked so well at delivering on. Simon Yam’s character so important in the first seems underused, less panache and less bright than the first film. There is one great moment (referencing the first film) where he has a smile and stares at the camera for a quick second or two (if you had not watched the original you would have not gotten this in-joke).
To has an interesting way of inserting humor into the scenes, the silly masks, Lam Suet having marital issues, Lam being forced to, well watch it, and Mark Cheng’s Bo character asking for more money (even if the last time seemed a bit forced).
There is definitely one scene (reminiscent of Fargo, but goes much further, once again showing that a true triad member should not allow himself to be captured) that is definitely shocking, grotesque and a bit bothersome. But it did show the lengths the Jimmy Lee (Louis Koo) character would go to accomplish his goal (in many ways Koo is reminiscent of Michael Corleone).
I still feel Election was a movie that probably did not need a sequel to it, though the premise is easily remade (over and over again, especially since the election is every two years). >
Note: the trailer showed scenes that were deleted from the movie (possibly showing something that might have happened to Kun)
Cal, I took a whole bunch on notes on the Tartan extras on the Election DVD (put on HKMDB
). Too much to put here unfortunately.
Yes, I read it earlier. Good stuff
.