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Chicken dance!
The First Vampire in China was on my list to watch for one reason---hopping vampires! Turns out it had an even better reason to watch---a vampire chicken! This was a ridiculous jiangshi, vampire, and ghost film grounded by Sek Kin as the ever-calm sifu ready with a talisman to subdue supernatural critters.I usually try and give a little synopsis of the story here, but this one was confusing at times. Not helped by much of it being filmed at night making it very hard to see. Basically, there was a school near a large burial ground that taught how to summon and contain things that go bump in the night. The students accidentally release malevolent ghosts. That wasn’t their greatest worry. A new inept mayor arrives and long story short, an ancient gold jade wearing vampire, along with an assortment of hopping vampires are set free when he attempts to rob a tomb. Sifu Kent and his students Kwong and Mao bring their magical tools to try and set everything right.
I don’t usually find Hong Kong horror or kung fu comedies very funny but I will admit to laughing at the vampire chicken and its effects on the hapless antagonists. The chicken song that played throughout the movie was funny enough. A jump-roping jiangshi was also unique. The students weren’t very memorable, Sek Kin saved this movie. The bumbling fool usually played by Billy Lau in the Mr. Vampire movies was played by Charlie Cho here. I found Charlie’s character far less annoying as an annoying character. And the mayor was pretty annoying. Kung fu fighters Hwang Jang Lee and Johnny Wang made brief appearances as ghosts.
The only copy I could find was faded and the subtitles were even more faded and tended to run off the bottom of the screen. I will admit that if I ever hear that this film has been restored I’d probably watch it again, though the likelihood is that it will just further degrade. The First Vampire in China is only for fans of this particular era and genre, and idiots like me who giggle whenever the chicken song is played. Graded on a curve as always.
20 October 2025
Trigger: Allusion to a dog being killed for its blood. The chicken used looked like a puppet so I don’t think one was harmed for the film.
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"I didn't expect him to trick me again" and again, and again...
The Whistleblower was a thriller set across three continents highlighting the dangers of capitalism and greed. Lei Jia Yin and Tang Wei starred as two people caught up in corporate corruption that could lead to the deaths of over a million people.Mark/Ma Ke has been living in Australia with his family for over ten years. His company has developed a way to turn coal into a form of natural gas. A Chinese company wants to use the technique under a highly populated area that sits above a large coal reserve. The CEO sends his wife, Zhou Si Liang, to handle the less than savory financial elements. She and Mark had been lovers years ago before she broke things off to marry a rich man. They meet at a party and share a night of passion. Passion turns to fear when Si Liang’s life is endangered and a terrible problem with Mark’s company is revealed to him.
The Whistleblower had good elements to it that were buried under plot inconsistencies, plot incoherencies, and two characters who weren’t always likeable. Starting the film with infidelity didn’t put the characters on firm moral footing. Frustratingly, both Mark and Si Liang had moments of brilliance and then utter stupidity. If there was a theme to this film it was that money is bad and makes people bad. Even if that was the case, and there are plenty of corrupt, heartless corporations in the world, the basic business model of GPEC was astonishingly, unbelievably short-sighted and would result in the utter destruction of the company and all involved. If the CEO of GPEC had been a Bond villain then it would have made more sense.
Lei Jia Yin and Tang Wei did the best they could with the material. Tang Wei has a beautiful charisma that is too often underused in Chinese films. The Whistleblower did try to distract from its messy storytelling with action scenes. There were plenty of car chases, and foot chases along and in buildings, and characters falling off and out of buildings. The White Truck of Doom even made a guest appearance! The most fascinating thing to me is that apparently there aren’t whistleblowers in China as there were three screens of explanation about the terminology.
The Whistleblower was an okay thriller that was overly long and stumbled over itself on occasion trying to do too much and not keeping track of its own plot. It’s worth a try for fans of Lei and/or Tang and if you can go into the movie with low expectations.
25 September 2025
Triggers: Black face, not so subtle racism . Infidelity-the wife was the most sympathetic character as well as the son.
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Be careful what you wish for...
Princess Yang Kwei Fei was one of only two films Mizoguchi Kenji shot in color. Based on the lives of Tang Dynasty Emperor Xuanzong and his beloved consort Yang Yu Huan aka Yang Gui Fei, it covered their brief moments of happiness before a bloody uprising tore them asunder.This film was made in conjunction with Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers. Aside from Japanese being spoken which was jarring, it looked much like a SB film minus the sword fights and kung fu. This film would have benefited from a little wire-fu. Despite having famous actors in the main roles, the film was terribly dry. Gui Fei was shown to be a kind and caring consort. Xuanzong adored her and she helped him not feel like a bird in a suffocating gilded cage composed of regulations and schedules. The Yangs he appointed to important positions abused their power and angered the people and Imperial guard. An Lu Shan who had been responsible for introducing Gui Fei to the emperor resented not gaining an even more prominent position and coveted the throne for himself. Before long the music minded emperor had a revolt on his hands.
The acting by Kyo Machiko and Mori Masayuki was fine. The sets and music were fine. Perhaps the run time was too short to properly build the story. Why did the people come to hate the Yangs seemingly overnight? What was the treacherous Crown Prince up to, a character we never met? The emperor and his Gui Fei were together for around 11 years IRL but the movie made it seem as if it was a matter of days or weeks. This tragic love story deserved a more in-depth journey into their relationship and the complexity of the world around them. Princess Yang Kwei Fei was fine, but I expect more than fine from Mizoguchi.
16 August 2025
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"My cabbages!"
I suspect Yamamoto Masashi’s 1987 film “Robinson’s Garden” is a polarizing film. Two hours of a counter culture woman creating a home out of an abandoned industrial site may either strike a viewer as profound or a colossal waste of time. I didn’t consider it a waste of time but also failed to see its profundity.Kumi and her friend Maki make a meager living as small time drug dealers and live in a communal type dwelling with an international crowd of underachievers. One night while stumbling home drunk, Kumi climbs over a wall and enters a thick forest, unusual for Tokyo. There in the midst is an empty factory and surrounding buildings. The next day Kumi sells or gives away nearly everything she owns and moves in. She paints murals on the walls and plants small trees. After that she begins the arduous task of digging up overgrown weeds in order to plant a cabbage patch. She furnishes and decorates her home with castoffs she finds in alleyways. All does not go well when she invites her friends over and it ends in a brawl.
Robinson’s Garden was more about the feelings that it evoked than any plot. Conversations were sparse and usually inane and repetitious like a record skipping in place. Kumi created her own reality or at least tried to, the opposite life of the rigid salaryman or cooped up housewife. In a feverish moment she pedaled her bike through a group of identically dressed salarymen to drive home the point. The isolated, verdant island hidden somewhere in Tokyo had a mythical feel about it, especially when coupled with a mysterious tree at the center of strange events.
The industrial site transformed into a rustic home led people to have hallucinations. An odd mandala painted by a stranger could have been a curse or a blessing. Kumi’s physical and mental health deteriorated as time went on, was she a victim of nature or lead paint or having only cabbages to eat? Kumi wasn’t a great gardener and alternated between working feverishly and sleeping for long periods of time.
Robinson’s Garden had little plot and could have used some judicious editing from my perspective. For a time, Kumi’s off grid existence bordered on paradise as she spent her days living in the moment. Capitalism and consumerism were far away over the wall. Either Nature or her own ebbing sanity began clawing back the “improvements” she’d made, showing the impermanence of humanity in the face of whatever green goddess ruled in her hidden world. This film was interesting but didn’t convey very clearly the existential questions it seemed to dance around.
25 June 2025
Trigger warnings: Partial nudity and sexual encounters
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"Once you have your hair cut, you'll change your old worldview"
Mother and a Guest showed the cultural crossroads Korean widows faced in 1960. The small town, how people dressed, and the customs were in a state of flux. Much of the film was narrated by the kindergartener and the adults were seen through her eyes. She didn’t understand them and I can’t say that I did either.Lee Kyung Sook and her six-year-old daughter Ok Hee live with her mother-in-law. Her husband died before Ok Hee was born. Kyung Sook wears her white widow’s weeds and chignon, never looks men in the eye, and is the epitome of demure. She clings to her widow’s integrity by not remarrying. Trouble develops when they take in Han Sun Ho as a boarder. Ok Hee is immediately taken with the soft-spoken artist and follows him around like a puppy. Could a romance develop between the widow and the artist when they are almost never in the same room and almost never speak? Well, that’s the question.
Throughout the film widows and widowers were shown remarrying and living happy lives. The old taboo was no longer enforced. Lee has been a widow since she was twenty-one and seemed relegated to forever being alone except for her daughter. Her wants and desires were irrelevant as well as her daughter’s. There could be no laughter and she’d abandoned her music. This film was supposed to be a melodramatic tearjerker, but the main characters inability to communicate was frustrating and at times infuriating. I was far more invested in the maid’s story or even the hairdresser’s.
Mother and the Guest was a snapshot of changing mores in South Korea after the war. It also showed the stranglehold on women’s virtue and filial obligations that did not loosen easily.
12 June 2025
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"Not everybody in Buddha's temple is as merciful as Buddha"
Despite a disclaimer at the beginning of the film that said it was not historical and that any similarity to real persons or places was coincidental, Conflagration was based on the book The Temple of the Gold Pavilion (Mishima Yukio, 1956), which was in turn inspired by the 1950 burning of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto by a mentally disturbed monk. I have thoroughly enjoyed two of Director Ichikawa Kon’s other films adapted from real events, but this one missed the mark for me. Perhaps if I had read the book, it would have filled in the details so obviously glossed over in the film.High school student Mizoguchi Goichi arrives at the Shukaku Pavilion after his father’s death. His father had been a monk and thought Shukaku was the most beautiful place in the world. The chief priest accepts Goichi as an apprentice much to his deputy’s chagrin. Many of the young apprentices have been drafted or killed in the war and there is real concern over who the successor to the temple will be. Goichi is awkward socially and stutters which makes him a target among the young monks. Goichi wants nothing to do with his mother and has strong feelings about who is pure enough to enter the temple. Along the way he becomes friends with a pessimistic young man with a club foot who uses his infirmity to make women feel sorry for him. Friendship between the two misfits is volatile at best. For the most part, Goichi finds no joy in anything or anyone except for the perfect and eternal pavilion.
I found the character of Goichi to be inscrutable and unlikeable and not in any compelling manner. Ichikawa Raizo VIII’s take on Goichi was so deadpan that I struggled to understand any of his motivations. The film never answered the question why the chief priest would want Goichi to be his successor, the boy was clearly emotionally imbalanced and had serious issues with people. A young Nakadai Tatsuya played the manipulative Togari with his usual energetic flair. Nakamura Ganjiro II as the head monk Dosen gave a strong performance as a monk who dove into the worldly concerns of greed and sex.
Conflagration was beautifully shot, no easy feat in black and white. Story elements felt like rocks skipping over a pond, never quite connecting or showing any depth. There was no suspense to the film as it began almost at the end, after Goichi has burned the temple. The movie failed to explain his obsession with the temple and his complicated feelings regarding beauty and purity. Events occurred that were never fleshed out nor had any emotional consequences. The one likeable character disappeared midway through the story like a puff of smoke. By the last third of the film, I was ready for Goichi to find his book of matches and free me from this conflagration.
9 June 2025
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Okoma is the young conductress on an old, dirty bus. The driver and her friendly colleague is Sonoda. The two love their jobs even as the company they work for is being edged out by a new company that has cleaner, more modern, and faster buses. Their passengers tend to be poor or in need of a largely empty bus. Passengers bring baggage, children, even chickens with them. Okoma comes up with the idea of acting as a tour guide along with her other duties to liven up the ride and draw in more customers. The two bus workers ask a visiting writer that Okoma had helped out to write them a script. Ikawa is more than happy to pay back the favor he owes Okoma and sets to work writing the script and teaching her how to speak like a tour guide.
Takamine Hideko was delightful as the good-hearted conductor. In one scene they stop the bus so she can deliver a gift to her mother who scolds her for spending money. She had no problem sharing her meager earnings on something for her mother yet at this stop she had to trade out her badly worn cloth shoes for her traditional geta. Fujiwara Kamatari played the congenial but slow driver willing to go along with Okoma’s ideas. He took her ideas to the boss as it was unacceptable for Okoma to present them to the toe digging, lemonade drinking, back stabbing leader. Natsukawa Daijiro as Ikawa supplied the two bus workers with creative and legal advice. More educated and cosmopolitan, Ikawa came to their aid when the bus company boss crossed an ethical line and pressured the two to do the same. The trio of comrades were affable and easy to root for.
Naruse made use of the rural scenery as a silent fourth character. Most of the roads appeared to be dirt with the bus kicking up a trail of dust behind it. The opening sequence and jaunty music reminded me of Mr. Thank You (1936), another film dedicated to a bucolic bus route and happy driver. The copy I watched was sadly in need of restoration, like peering through murky water that caused the faces to be badly obscured. I would love to have seen the countryside more clearly as well.
Hideko the Conductor wasn’t deeply profound, nothing exciting happened, yet Naruse once again showed us regular people choosing to make the best of difficult situations. He also provided gentle laughter, friendship, and a twinge of pain on the scenic ride.
5 June 2025
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"Life is what matters, right?"
Older Brother, Younger Sister was another Naruse Mikio family drama, yet where other of his families quietly turned the knife, this family exploded in unexpected violence. Throughout the waves of emotions, the youngest daughter San, tried to keep her life and family steady.San returns home from school to find people giving her the side-eye in the small village her family lives in. Taichi, the boy she’s been romantically interested in, is forbidden to see her. Turns out, her older sister Mon has returned home pregnant and unmarried. Mon has worked in Tokyo to pay for San’s nursing school. San and their mother welcome Mon home, but the father ignores her and the older brother Ino, viciously berates her. Mon packs up and leaves which only creates further gossip and hurt feelings.
This is one of those films I wish I didn’t have to rely on subtitles. Mon didn’t appear to be a prostitute at the beginning of the film though the villagers seemed to imply that she was or at the very least sexually promiscuous. She’d been in love with a university student and the paternity of her child wasn’t questioned which seemed to negate their argument. Mon bemoaned her bad moral state after she lost her child with her brother implying she was working in the oldest profession. Or was she simply a “used” woman no longer with that shiny virgin smell men seemed to think was of great importance. Her churl of a brother was upset and gave her no quarter, letting her know exactly what he thought of her fallen status. Maybe too upset? When he explained how close they’d been even into her teens, it began to sound a bit incestuous. To cap things off, the violent fight between Ino and Mon took an uncomfortably erotic turn.
Regardless of Mon’s profession, she relished her independence and took care of her sister and family. The two sisters were very different yet San wished to follow in her big sister’s footsteps toward independence and was in no hurry to marry. Much like the daughter in Lightning, she wasn’t afraid to tell people what she needed, including her milquetoast love interest. The mother held her own and supported the family with the small shop she ran. The relationship between the two sisters was the backbone of this film given a solid assist from the mother.
The men were not shown in a favorable light. Ino spent what little money he made on “slutty” women, oh, the irony. He was also a thoughtless brute who justified his antagonistic behavior as just being a good brother. The father idled through his days drinking and reliving his past as a prosperous business owner. The noodle maker and the university student both lacked courage and the ability to stand up for what they believed in.
The actors’ ages were tough to ignore. In real life Yamamoto Reizaburo (Father) and Urabe Kumeko (Mother) were 51, Mori Masayuki (Ino) was 42 and looked every bit of it, Kyo Machiko (Mon) was 29-close to her character's age, and Kugo Yoshiko (San) was an age appropriate 22.
Naruse is one of my favorite directors from the earlier years of Japanese film. Unlike Mizoguchi who seemed to delight a little too much in torturing his heroines and Kurosawa who struggled with female characters, Naruse often showed women acting as independently and courageously as possible within a rather rigid patriarchal society. San and Mon brushed off what the townspeople and their own family said about them and mapped out the best lives they could for themselves. I should also mention that Tanaka Kinuyo was an assistant director, which delighted me to no end. Older Brother, Younger Sister was an odd film about a complex family with no easy answers, but it still left me hopeful that the sisters would keep their ties to each other without losing themselves in the process.
3 June 2025
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"If she was a boy she could help your papa get out of this"
Polly Shang Kuan Ling Feng donned a wig, cross-dressing as a man in order to bring down the people who had her father arrested on trumped up charges. She’ll have her hands full taking on two different salt smuggling gangs with her little brother in tow.Smuggler Chiang Piao uses his connections with corrupt government officials to have a policeman framed when the officer tries to bring him in for salt smuggling. Lin Kin tells his young son that it’s too bad his daughter wasn’t a boy, because then she could help him get out of the mess he was in. Lin Jo Nan decides to prove her father wrong and dresses as a man to infiltrate one of the salt smuggling gangs so that she can find a way to exonerate him. She has her little brother dress as a girl and with her kung fu skills soon finds a job with a rival gang.
Polly might not have been as fierce as Angela Mao or as competent as Michelle Yeoh, but on the lower rung of female kung fu stars, she held her own. Perennial bad guy, Kurata Yasuaki, is always fun to watch with his fast fists and even faster kicks. The best fight was between Kurata and the powerful Chin Kang. Addy Sung and Cheng Fu Hung were Piao’s minions who knew their way around fight choreography in fire and mud. Jacky Chen played a salt smuggler henchman with shady loyalties but quick moves both with his fists and in the bedroom. Martial arts directors Leung Siu Chung and Gam Ming created fights that suited Polly’s abilities and also showcased the more talented Kurata and Chin. They even helped little eight-year-old Yeh Hsiao Yee have some good moves.
If the movie hadn’t bogged down badly in the middle, I might have rated it slightly higher as the action was decent and the story adequate. Being a low budget film shot in Taiwan, most of the fights took place outdoors or in a warehouse. The only version I could find was dubbed in English. I don’t take off points for it, but I do dislike the dubbing aspect. While the film is fading at least it wasn’t badly cropped with almost imperceptible subtitles. I have no idea where they came up with the title The Rangers given it was a young woman and a little boy taking on salt smugglers to save their dad but looking for logic in these films is often a futile task. As always, graded on a curve for these films and only for fans of the genre.
18 March 2025
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"Is he fighting or dancing?"
Dance of Death had a thin storyline even for a kung fu movie. What it did have, was one of Angela Mao’s strongest performances. The comedy could be grating at times, but at least this movie gave its star more to do than glare and hand out butt-whoopings. Angela showed she had a flare for comedy and could handle the choreography by Jackie Chan.Fei Fei rescues a man attacked by three “birds” from the 100 Birds School. Turns out he was running from the birds and their master after they killed nearly everyone in his kung fu school. Fei Fei accompanies Ku Cheng Yuan to a safe haven at another school. It doesn’t take long for the birds and a master of the “Upside-down horse” technique to catch up with them. Fei Fei escapes as the school is being obliterated. He (Angela was playing a man) runs across two old masters sparring to see who was best. He talks them into training him so that when he fights the bad guys they will be able to see which technique was better.
I kept waiting to see if Angela’s character was simply cross-dressing and there would be a big reveal at the end, but it never happened. She played a beggar man from beginning to end. Most of her characters through the years were given little emotional range. Angela seemed to be having fun being allowed to do more in this film. It also had to have been extremely demanding as the movie had very little story to it and from beginning to end there were either fight scenes or training scenes. The initial fights were “comedic” and not very good. They looked like kung fu dancing as you could count the cadence of their steps and kicks. Jackie Chan’s fingerprints were all over the fights and used many of his earlier film techniques. His push-pull, rolls, poses, and rhythm under rode all of the fights. The final battles were much faster and far more entertaining than Dean Shek’s seagull and chicken styles. The names were purposely ridiculous as were the “bird” fights. The two masters invented more feminine styles to combat the “Upside-down horse” such as “Mulan pulling her bow”, “Dancing girl”, and “Concubine coming out of her bath.” Whether the Five Forms or Dancing Girl Form, Angela moved agilely through each.
The story and most of the movie were completely forgettable, all save for Angela’s scenes. This movie stretched her acting and martial arts skills. She was delightful to watch as Fei Fei learned to fly.
9 March 2025
Warning: The movie was faded and had white faded subtitles which could be hard to read at times
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"No one can throw away his past"
A heads up for anyone who reads this review, I’ve not read the manga nor watched the anime. I can only review what I saw on the screen with nothing to fill in the story and character gaps that people familiar with the source material would be able to do.Kenshin is hanging out at Kaoru’s dojo committed to his pacifist life. Unfortunately, two blasts from his past with grudges against him and the country want him to come out of retirement. A bandaged baddie named Shishio, with his own army, is ready to turn the country upside down for betraying him. A mysterious stranger is also hunting down Kenshin for reasons hitherto unknown. The government talks Kenshin into facing off with Shishio and given Shishio’s condition, it could mean literally. During his journey, Kenshin is befriended by a group of ninjas. His friends, Kaoru and hot-headed Sanosuke, are not far behind him and determined to help when Kyoto is threatened with an inferno.
Kenshin’s reverse blade is a bit of stretch, given that he was usually fighting gangs of murderous killers. If Batman could do it, then so could Himura Kenshin. Satoh Takeru often missed some of his targets by a mile, but he sold the action as did the stuntmen. The sword fights may have been completely unrealistic but they were well choreographed and entertaining. Where I did have a problem was with Kaoru in this film. At a particularly dangerous moment she showed up yelling at Kenshin to not kill a psychotic killer he was fighting. I really wanted him to say, “Woman, I am getting my butt handed to me and all I have is this broken-ass sword. Every time I knock him down, he bounces back up. I’m trying to not only stay alive but also keep a baby from being cleaved in half. So cut me some slack!” She also told the ninjas who were fighting an army and badly outnumbered to not kill anyone. To go against their training and worry about that would have gotten them killed. I love a badass female fighter and am always happy to see one in martial arts movies, Kaoru just wasn’t written very well. She was also not very convincing or commanding with her bamboo pole, given that she was supposed to be an instructor. Her presence was a liability during the battle and of course she ended up as the damsel in distress.
There were numerous characters to keep track of, both old and new, some more captivating than others. There were characters who played it straight and others who chewed through every piece of scenery in their path. Satoh Takeru is always compelling to watch as the handsome samurai who has taken a vow not to kill and uses a sword with the business end aimed at himself. This middle child film just felt uneven and bloated. I’m looking forward to seeing how they resolve some of those issues in the third installment.
8 March 2025
Warning: Ends on a cliffhanger
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"Everything will be okay after tomorrow"
Infernal Affairs 3 finished the trilogy in an effort to tie up loose ends and weave another story into the two previous films. Honestly, I thought the original film was perfect enough. The prequel didn’t do much for me and this third installment felt like it could have been wrapped up in a few scenes at the end of the original. It was still interesting but far less cohesive than the other two installments.Lau Kin Ming has been cleared of all charges in relation to the events of the original story. He is now on the trail of other moles installed in the police department. His prime suspect is the Security Wing head, Yeung Kam Wing. A new criminal suspect, Shen Ching also enters the picture. Along the way he makes use of Dr. Lee who had seen Chan Wing Yan as a patient. As Ming continues his investigation, reality and hallucinations begin to blur as he sees Yan’s reflection in his mirror.
In trying to build suspense and weave or rather jackhammer, a new story to fit into the other two films, IA3 copiously made use of flashbacks, dreams, and delusions. The back and forth, up and down, constant traveling through time and alternate realities was whiplash inducing. It began to feel less like an engrossing story and more a lament about killing off one of the most interesting characters. The overuse of Dr. Lee, one of the least captivating characters of the three films didn’t help. A few minor mysteries were answered, yet IA3 created a bigger one. Where was Yan’s “Broken Sword” (Hero 2002) facial hair in the flashbacks? Tony Leung’s face was conspicuously smooth.
Leon Lai’s enigmatic Yeung and Chen Dao Ming’s (another Hero alum!) too cool for school and shadowy Shen Ching were compelling, if unnecessary additions to the continuation of Yan’s story. The production values were still on point, but the point of the writing exercise eluded me. The original Infernal Affairs is still one of the best Triad vs Police films out there and like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way. These other films trying to pad the stories with extraneous characters and motivations didn’t make the story any deeper or better. While they were entertaining in their own way, the original was strong enough to stand on its own.
16 February 2025
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"Retribution takes its own sweet time"
Infernal Affairs II was a prequel to the successful Infernal Affairs, this time without Tony Leung and Andy Lau. Anthony Wong and Francis Ng carried much of the movie on their veteran shoulders. There were few surprises and less suspense given that after watching IA we already know the fates of all of the primary characters.Chan Wing Yan is shown on his path to becoming a mole in the triads while Lau Kin Ming straddles making his work life balance with answering to the triad and his police boss. Yan must deal with illicit family ties and Ming courts death with his crush on the wife of his dangerous triad supervisor. Their stories often linger in the background. Officer Wong Chi Shing takes center stage as a cop who plays outside the rules in his efforts to bring the triads under control. When Ngai Wing Hau’s father is assassinated, he takes over the reins of the crime family. Smooth and soft spoken, his distinguished exterior belies his ruthless interior. Hon Sam is merely a flunky whose wife is the brains behind his actions.
Much as Infernal Affairs forced the main characters to answer the question, “Who am I?”, Wong’s actions propelled him head long into criminal activities for the greater good. At some point his conscience began to question those actions. Hau had no such qualms. He had anyone who stood in his way or betrayed him brutally eliminated. Hon Sam used whoever was around him to stay alive and move up the deadly ladder until one fateful decision causes him to burn the ladder down.
IA2 had the same high production values as IA. The acting was more mixed in this one relying on weaker actors and characters. Wong and Ng anchored the film with strong performances, though Wong was hampered by one over-zealous scene. The story was interesting but didn’t neatly align with its predecessor. The first film was so well made it was hard to take a step back to see how minor and supporting characters found their places in the scheme of things. I can see the allure of wanting to further flesh out the characters and make more money off the original, it just didn’t add anything to my enjoyment overall of Yan and Ming’s destructive journeys.
16 February 2025
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"You choose your own destiny"
Infernal Affairs was a gripping case of cat and mouse accentuated by both main characters having existential crises over their paths in life. Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Andy Lau in their prime, they took a tight cerebral script and made it shine.Chan Wing Yan and Lau Kin Ming are both cadets at the police academy. Yan is kicked out and seemingly turns to a life of crime. Ming seemingly becomes an upright police officer. Turns out both stories are false. Yan goes deep undercover for 10 years fighting his way into Hon Sam’s triad while Ming under orders from the crime boss climbs the ladder becoming an Internal Affairs officer. Each seeks to sabotage their employers until it becomes abundantly clear to both organizations that they have a mole amongst their midst. The men are assigned to discover the mole, knowing they are the mole their bosses are looking for, and also discovering the opposing mole. Yan and Ming circle ever closer and closer to the identity of their cunning counterpart.
Infernal Affairs would have been a fine cops and robbers film as it was. What set it apart were the motivations and yearnings of the main characters. Yan was tired of being seen by society as a bad guy regardless of the suffering he endured to help the police and that same society. He wanted out, but events blew up making that dream unlikely. Ming seemed to have no such qualms for much of the film about his dirty dealings until confronted with who he truly was, and secretly desiring to be the good guy he portrayed to others. The honorable cop was disguised as a bad guy while the bad guy was disguised as an honorable cop. The emotional and mental gymnastics each went through attempting to determine who they truly were set both men on a collision course not only with each other but also their true selves.
The writing, cinematography, music, and sets were all stellar. Tony Leung and Andy Lau had great chemistry with each other and their co-stars. Even though there were internal conflicts, that didn’t mean there was no violence or gun play. The thrilling hide and seek was balanced with action and life or death consequences. Too many gangster films overly rely on revenge, double-crosses and gruesome body counts. Infernal Affairs excelled in bringing two compelling characters to life who struggled to stay alive and keep their identities secret while never letting the story drag. Each man became entrenched in his own hell with very little hope of escaping. Infernal Affairs delivered from beginning to gut punching end.
15 February 2025
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No, just no
At first, I thought The Groin aka Between the Navel and Knees was another remake of Dangerous Liaisons, only in the how can we make it even more disturbing way. Still not sure if this was inspired by it or not. There’s not much information to be found on this movie, most likely because it was awful and didn’t make much sense.Jang Won and Choi Min make a bet regarding who can be the first man to take the chaste Widow Yoo to bed. The stakes? If Choi Min loses, he must give Jang Won everything he owns, including his “wife.” If Jang Won loses, he forfeits his life. Both men begin their subterfuges in order to worm their way into Yoo’s life.
Fair warning, there were many, many sexual scenes. Most were not filmed or acted well. Apparently, in polite Joseon society, people had sex outside or in front of open doors incessantly. There was also a terrible sexual assault and flashbacks to it as if the first time wasn't enough for audiences. Several scenes featured bare breasts if nudeness offends you. Most of this film offended me by how poorly it was made. The acting was very amateurish, which did not help with two unlikeable male leads. The writer(s) chose rather awkward leaps in logic which made little sense. The production values were also rock bottom.
For the most part, it felt like the writer(s) had watched one of the many versions of Dangerous Liaisons and decided to f*ck around and find out how they could make a classic erotic story of betrayal and love worse, so much worse.
31 January 2025
Trigger Warnings-nudity, sexual content, sexual assault, and suicide
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