Available at Amazon.com
Directed by
Johnny To
Cast:
Simon Yam … Lam Lok
Tony Leung Ka Fai … Big D
Louis Koo … Jimmy Lee
Nick Cheung … Jet
Ka Tung Lam … Kun
Siu-Fai Cheung … Mr. So
Suet Lam … Big Head
Tian-lin Wang … ‘Uncle’ Teng Wai
Ping-Man Tam … Uncle Cocky
Maggie Siu … Mrs. Big D
David Chiang … Chief Superintendent Hui
Witnessing a genre picture that really breaks the mold in a way that you’ve never seen before can be an extremely shocking event. Watching a film such as Unforgiven for the first time makes you realize just how far a genre like the Western can stretch. The same goes for a movie like Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill for the Yakuza film. These films challenged the conventions of their genre and went against and yet in many ways defined their genres. This was the feeling elicited while watching Johnny To’s Hong Kong Triad movie, Election.
Election is a Hong Kong movie that avoids a lot of flashy camera moves or stylistic action in order to tell the most effective story about the inner workings of the Hong Kong Triads I’ve ever seen. More than anything else, the movie is about traditions and ceremony, showing just how the Triads stay united as a brotherhood even as the police and inner corruption threaten to break them apart. Countless Hong Kong films have merely shown Triads as mindless thugs; animals looking only to survive through crime and violence. Election looks to show their society in a light where we understand why they are the way they are.
Most of the film is about the struggle for power within a particular family. This sect happens to hold an election every two tears to elect its chairman or godfather, only this time the vote is in jeopardy. The two main rivals for the position Lok (Simon Yam) and Big D (Tony Leung Ka Fai) are as night and day. Lok seems to be reserved and hard working, while Big D is flashy and is trying his best to buy the election if possible. With neither man wanting to give up on the post, violence is the only recourse.
The main object of their desires is a baton representative of the post of chairman, so the man able to first obtain the item will inevitably have the upper hand. The resulting melee is a taut, brilliantly staged struggle by Director Johnny To. Agents for both men race to find the baton, resulting in brutal encounters with everything from guns to machetes being used to dispatch enemies. The best action sequence in the film is an incredibly bloody showdown in which a gangster loyal to Lok has the baton in his possession and has to fight off several combatants in a slow, but expertly choreographed sequence.
What I really love about this film is that outside of Simon Yam and Tony Leung Ka Fai, most of the actors that To uses in this film are faces that aren’t huge stars. They seem instead to have been cast because of their faces, making them look more legitimate, especially the older members of the cast that seem to look like they’ve each spent 35 years in the Hong Kong mafia. The two leads are also excellent, as each has a dangerous streak, especially Yam, who’s Lok is all the more dangerous because his menace is well hidden underneath his everyman exterior.
Again though, my biggest praise of the film is how it shows this particular form of mafia in such intimate terms. Much like the Kinji Fukasaku Yakuza films of the 1970’s, Johnny To’s film is out to fascinate you with this world more than he is out to exhilarate you with incredible action. We’re given compelling characters and marvelous insight into this world, which turns out to be as remarkable as any form of organized crime as I’ve ever seen on screen. Election may not be your typical example of Hong Kong cinema, but nevertheless it is an exemplary illustration of it.
The Video
The movie’s print is a little disappointing. The picture itself is a little dark and the print seems a little pixilated, as if the sharpness of the picture was a bit of an afterthought. Still the movie is quite watchable. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1.
The Audio
The Audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 is quite a bit better. The sound design of the movie is quite good and it is rightly accentuated by the disc’s soundtrack.
The Making of Election – This is a pretty standard “making of” Featurette that goes about 7 minutes. Johnny To has some interesting comments about the production as does the cast.
Interview with Johnny To – When asked about his inspiration to make this film, To answers that he really wanted to make an accurate document about the Hong Kong Triads because they’re an important part of the country’s history. I find this fascinating as it shows what kind of place in society that the Triads have over there, instead of being repulsed by the public, the Triads are seen in a very positive light it seems, simply based on this interview.
Interview with Simon Yam – This short interview has Yam spending a lot time talking about why he likes to work with Director Johnny To. He really appreciates To’s energy and note just how easy a director he is to work with.
Interview with Tian-lin Wang – There’s an interesting question directed at the actor where he is asked if it surprised him to get nominated for Best Supporting Action at the Hong Kong movie awards the year this film came out. His response was one of great humility, and he states he was very surprised because he’s not a very recognizable actor, and that he knew he wasn’t going to win because he thought other actors had had better performances that year. Still he was honored. There’s also a fascinating section of the interview where he talks about Johnny To and their mentor-apprentice style relationship.
Interview with Tony Leung Ka Fai – The actor speaks a lot about how Johnny To is a director that likes to play fast and loose with his script. Leung Kai Fai states that this actually creates a terrific atmosphere with which to work, because To allows for a lot of improvisation on his set. This gives the actors so much freedom that they are given the opportunity to do their best work, which it seems is what you get here.
Trailers – You get several trailers on the disc, including one for this movie, several Park Chan-Wook films and others.
