A Better Tomorrow.

Review #1875: A Better Tomorrow.

Cast: 

Ti Lung (Sung Tse-ho), Chow Yun-fat (Mark Lee), Leslie Cheung (Sung Tse-kit), Emily Chu (Jackie), Waise Lee (Shing), Tien Feng (Father Sung), John Woo (Inspector Wu), Yanzi Shi (Mr. Yiu), Kenneth Tsang (Ken), and Fui-On Shing (Shing's right hand man) Directed by John Woo (#030 - Face/Off, #336 - Broken Arrow (1996), and #1100 - Mission: Impossible 2, and #1855 - Hard Target)

Review: 

Ever hear of a movie that inspires a nickname for a genre? On release, A Better Tomorrow (1986) would set the stage for what is known as the "heroic bloodshed" genre in Hong Kong cinema. In other words: films with some sort of good-willed criminal to go with elements of loyalty or strong brotherhood before action is conveyed through stylized gun battles that is known as either "ballistic ballet" or more specifically, gun fu. This was the first prominent film of John Woo, who had been inspired by seeing Bruce Lee in The Big Boss (1971) that saw him do a mix of martial art films and comedies. The film was written by Woo, Chan Hing-Kai, and Leung Suk-wah, with producer credit going to Tsui Hark, who had directed film such as All the Wrong Clues for the Right Solution (1981) and Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983) before co-founding his own production company Film Workshop in 1984. The movie was done on a tight budget and proved a huge success. Tsui and Woo would work together again in A Better Tomorrow II (released in 1987 that saw the return of Ti, Chow, Cheung, Chu, and Tsang)), but their disagreements meant that only the former returned to direct the last of the series with the prequel A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon (1989). A Better Tomorrow had a number of inspirations that included two Hong Kong films: The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (1967) and The Brothers (1979), which was actually a remake of an Indian movie named Deewaar (1975). Three remakes have followed: Aatish: Feel the Fire (1994, made in India), A Better Tomorrow (2010, made in South Korea), and A Better Tomorrow 2018 (made in China).

The power of the film is not so much just the array of action sequences with weapons but instead the characters around it that make it a generally absorbing experience. Told primarily in Cantonese with some English and Mandarin as well, A Better Tomorrow utilizes its 95-minute runtime to righteous execution and timing. Squabbles over just who one is as an individual trying to get out of the muck of the underworld has never felt so bittersweet in fun. The material may be familiar, even seeming like a touch from Old Hollywood at times, but it is a patient movie that never seems at odds with its audience, instead leading them to the payoff they think they want rather than playing for phoniness; of course, Chow's attire in particular inspired an array of copy cats across Hong Kong, so folks really did just dig the movie and wanted to look like it rather than just absorb it like product. Ti was elevated to star status in the 1970s with Chang Cheh as his primary director before leaving Shaw Brothers Studios lessened his power in the 1980s. Pushing forty with a role that was basically part of a three pronged attack of actors, Ti pulls it all together with the regrets required from such a role with solemn force. Cheung had started a career in show business as a teenager that eventually found success within Cantopop music, although he would appear in a number of films from time to time. Chow and Ti may overshadow him, but Cheung does make a fair impression when it comes to trying to play stubborn impulse in the shadow of crime (his onscreen chemistry with Chu isnt as lucky, since Tsang manages to overshadow her in outright presence). Chow was a television presence for a number of years prior to this film that had mixed results in trying to enter film (to the point where there were doubts over the success of a film with him in it). The success of the film would lead to a handful more collaborations with Woo alongside both of the follow-ups to A Better Tomorrow. He does an exquisite job here, straddling the line of loyalty and lack of fear that makes for a confident presence. The sequence where he convinces a character to get their head together and fight is probably the highlight scene, although obviously the climax would be a good one to highlight Chow too. Lee makes a quality villain, conniving in all the right ways for those cold moments required with either lesd presence, right down to the vicious beating sequence. As a whole, the movie runs smoothly in its bravado of action and tinges of drama that come together for riveting quality for involved, one with a closing sequence that caps itself off in rewarding fashion to make it all quite worth the time spent to get there. Helping to make a specific nickname for a genre is certainly worth all of the things said after 35 years later, in my book.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Review #1525: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Cast: 
Chow Yun-fat (Li Mu Bai), Michelle Yeoh (Yu Shu Lien), Zhang Ziyi (Jen Yu), Chang Chen (Lo 'Dark Cloud' / Luo Xiao Hu), Cheng Pei-pei (Jade Fox), Sihung Lung (Sir Te), Li Fazeng (Governor Yu), Gao Xi'an (Bo), Hai Yan (Madam Yu), and Wang Deming (Police inspector Tsai / Prefect Cai Qiu) Directed by Ang Lee.

Review: 
"Nothing stands still. That's important in my movies. People want to believe in something, want to hang on to something to get security and want to trust each other. But things change. Given enough time, nothing stands still. I think seeking for security and lack of security is another thing in my movies."

It always helps to broaden your horizons when it comes to movies. Ang Lee cultivated a place for himself as a respected international director through a long road from his birth in Taiwan to studying at both the National Taiwan University of Arts and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His studies at each resulted in an interest for drama and arts (with a degree in theater to show for it at the latter), and study at New York University Tisch School of the Arts carried him into film (including an acclaimed thesis film). Despite all of this work in school, it took several years for him to find work in the film industry (where he wrote ideas and screenplays while being a house husband). He was given a chance to write and direct after submitting his work for a competition by the Government Information Office of Taiwan. The result was the martial arts comedy-drama Pushing Hands (1991), a Taiwan-United States production which he would direct and co-write. This was the first of six films he would do in the 1990s, which generally received positive notices from critics and fair audience returns with work such as The Wedding Banquet (1993, which finished second in the submission contest) and Sense and Sensibility (1995).

You don't need me to tell you that this was a great international success, because it most definitely made an impression on audiences in 2000, with over half of its $213 million box office earnings coming in America, resulting in it being known as the most successful non-English language film produced abroad in America (alongside numerous accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film). This was a massive co-production that needed four countries and multiple production companies that ranged from Taiwanese Zoom Hunt International Productions Company to China Film Co-Production Corporation to EDKO Film (Hong Kong) to Sony Pictures Classics. This was adapted from the novel of the same name by Wang Dulu, who had written it as the fourth in his five-novel Crane-Iron Series (which were serialized from 1938 to 1944) for which Kuo Jung Tsai, Hui-Ling Wang and James Schamus (involved in Lee's films as writer or producer since Lee's first) were tasked to write a screenplay of. Lee had wanted to make a film like this ever since he was a child, and he had read the story in 1994 and was grabbed by the lead character of Jen and her story alongside its abundance of Chinese history and textures. Each country has their own cinema for which to hang their laurels on, but the wuxia genre (which translates to martial heroes) is very much tied to Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong in entertainment.

The diversity of accomplishment in such a production also serves to the cast, which has a majority of its main actors born from those three countries for a Mandarin language film (Yeoh was born in Malaysia and had to train for a year to learn Mandarin). Lee pitched the film to Yeoh as "Sense and Sensibility with martial arts", and it would seem each are perfect for each other in the film. What we have here is a fairly poetic movie in its sensibility that Lee wanted to present (in his own words) as "China of the imagination" that makes for a film of hidden strengths in its mix of Eastern and Western filmmaking that certainly makes for a fascinating experience of destiny and art. Hong Kong film icon Chow does a tremendous job here, having a great composure of integrity and stature that we see quite well in interest without needing platitudes to speak through. Yeoh (also a Hong Kong icon within action) has clearly worked just as hard in fitting with what is needed in strength and conviction in an role bound by loyalty and regret that is terrific. Zhang (a model-turned-actress in her third role at age 20) does wonders in wandering vulnerability that weaves in desire and arrogance with useful spirit that matters in generating meaningful drama between her and Yeoh in the differences that shape them in their lives and what they share in their obligations to society. Chang proves just as reliable in brimming charisma that go well enough when paired with Zhang. Cheng pulls in a soothingly bitter turn as the last main focus, doing well with her little story of counter reactiveness to her own history of repressed desires with others.

The diversity of accomplishment in such a production also serves to the cast, which has a majority of its main actors born from those three countries for a Mandarin language film (Yeoh was born in Malaysia and had to train for a year to learn Mandarin). Lee pitched the film to Yeoh as "Sense and Sensibility with martial arts", and it would seem each are perfect for each other in the film. What we have here is a fairly poetic movie in its sensibility that Lee wanted to present (in his own words) as "China of the imagination" that makes for a film of hidden strengths in its mix of Eastern and Western filmmaking that certainly makes for a fascinating experience of destiny and art. Hong Kong film icon Chow does a tremendous job here, having a great composure of integrity and stature that we see quite well in interest without needing platitudes to speak through. Yeoh (also a Hong Kong icon within action) has clearly worked just as hard in fitting with what is needed in strength and conviction in an role bound by loyalty and regret that is terrific. Zhang (a model-turned-actress in her third role at age 20) does wonders in wandering vulnerability that weaves in desire and arrogance with useful spirit that matters in generating meaningful drama between her and Yeoh in the differences that shape them in their lives and what they share in their obligations to society. Chang proves just as reliable in brimming charisma that go well enough when paired with Zhang. Cheng pulls in a soothingly bitter turn as the last main focus, doing well with her little story of counter reactiveness to her own history of repressed desires with others.

Any film that could have a fight high up into the trees and not seem reliant on CGI or tricks is clearly on the right track for greatness. Great hands of fighting need great choreographers, so enter Yuen Woo-ping, who is known for his direction as fight advisor and his own films since the 1970s that shifted from primarily working in Hong Kong (such as Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in 1978) to work in Hollywood with films such as The Matrix (1999); coincidentally, he would direct the sequel to this film sixteen years later (with Sword of Destiny adapting the fifth book). Its best sequence is likely the scene in the restaurant, one that showcases a display of fury against a whole group with great focus and action. It proves more than a martial arts film made to express a childhood goal, accomplishing a sweeping epic in what one sees and feels with its story that make its fights in the air all the more worthwhile to go along the rest. However one interprets its ending in where it leaps to close out a tale of poetry, it makes for a satisfactory closure of the circle that works in delivering tragedy on the scale of an epic without becoming bogged down in scope. With a pace of two hours, the film shuffles itself along with great air for engaging entertainment through a suitable cast, sweeping fights and music (through Tan Dun and occasional cello work from accomplished cellist Yo-Yo Ma), and an awareness for what makes a great epic come through with focus.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.