Review for Johnnie To's 'Election 2'. First of a Few, I Suspect.
You may well see another review of 'Election 2' appear very soon here on the front page, truth be told I have decided to move my thoughts on the film from within the forum (written a couple of days ago) and stick them here once again, this time sticking all the relevant missing punctuation and so on into it.
Normally don't like the idea of sitting to watch a film with the idea I am going to write about it, but I am getting used to it more and more, and I don't over-think it too much since I've switched to largely sticking them in the relevant forum thread. It's much nicer, less formal, can bash out my ideas more quickly.
So, here goes, some thoughts on 'Election 2', which Todd also has his hands on a copy of and must have been unable to get around to reviewing just yet (busy guy) but which will certainly appear very soon - maybe tonight, was expecting it the same day as I wrote these ones below.
A much clearer story this time around and much more clearly told too, the 2-year period of rule is coming to an end and the jostling for position begins. The process has its rules and traditions, but the system is entrenched in other less official rules and traditions also - the bribery, political discussions, coersion and violence all gradually move into place like a hugely complicated, unruly game of chess.
Initially its a little too discussion-based, and although this clearly isn't intended to be an action movie it doesnt mean it wouldn't have benefited from some defining action event or sequences to identify and shape the characters beyond being people involved in talks, sitting around desks, sat in bars, walking streets and so on. If the lack of clarity is intentional, and i suspect not, then it's another element to make it a complicated situation - i fear its actually about my inability to grasp names and faces easily.
As time goes on it still manages to remain thoroughly captivating, the ultra-dark style of the visuals is one of the key elements to help set what is probably one of the most gentle, menacing, unnerving atmospheres ive seen in recent years. The music, the editing of the sound, the nightime setting make for something even darker than the previous film, and the tension and apprehension is nerve-wracking as the difficulties and conclusion nears. Centrally, the story is about the changover from British rule (essentially a very independant rule, almost a country in its own right) to Chinese rule effecting how life for Wo Shing can be run (how HK has now effectively become just another Chinese city), what they can and cant effectively do, what direction they potentially go in and the kind of business they do - right down to how legitimately they choose to live, and the fight to work their way forwards in relatively uncertain / unpredictable times.
Johnnie to explains that the intention is to make a document about the changing times in triad society, and helps to clarify why people shouldnt be concerned about the relative lack of action - it's about political power and the gentle peeks of action / events are simply part of that picture rather than just for the sake of it - and that these films should be viewed as something new and different, not related to earlier HK cinema. It make easily be compared to Japanese Yakuza movies that document things from a more truthful angle, but the primary aim of Johnnie To's films seems to be to document the actuality of HK gangsters in a comparable fashion and the importance is on the films being made in this fashion now, and that they represent and record these times, not that they bare any resemblance in approach to older films.
There is a middleground feeling to the films, neither documents of actual events or completely without a sense of reality (they're not entertainment movies per se) - if anything they feel intent on being as realistic with actions and events as possible - they stick themselves in an odd position of still being movies in many aspects, more like documentaries in others, so the atmosphere is similar to that ground covered by films like 'The Godfather' which is as close a comparison as you could make, i suspect.
Great films, some astonishing violence, primarily impressive because of its tangiable sense of tension and fear, likely to leave many shaking or shocked at the end.
*The HK DVD is just lovely, the broken-English Subtitles on the extras are a slight let-down, otherwise (on the surface of things) this is as good a DVD presentation as you could hope for.
