donleavy

Part of the new wave of Hong Kong productions, very modern and unique.

Takeshi Kaneshiro's best movie persona is that of the lovable loser. (e.g., ANNA MAGDALENA, CHUNGKING EXPRESS) He begins the movie as a completely hopeless and messed up loner who's foolish enough to be beaten and thrown out of a bar, and then goes back in for more beating. You just want to give him a hug.

Carman Lee is the same sort, looking bruised and makeup-less throughout most of the movie, but still beautiful. She needs a hug, too. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that these two orphan-like people end up clinging to each other.

The ending is heart-rending - so much is told without words. It had me clutching my chest with both my hands.

Also, the music is great. Xylophones reminiscent of TWIN PEAKS, and a wacky samba beat is played over a tragi-comic scene in which a gang desperately scrambles to find ice to put their boss's severed fingers in. It's just absolutely cool.

Some violent scenes (aforementioned beating, creative finger-slicing) and a lot of character-building with visual elements. Pre-coital grooming rituals include clipping their nails, and the lovers try on each other's clothes and give each other bad haircuts. Yup, it's that sort of a movie.

A biopic of Chinese silent film actress from the 30's, Ruan Lingyu, with Maggie Cheung as Ruan. This movie tells the sad story of a young woman who is rescued from poverty by show business, and is subsequently destroyed by it. It's a classic story of the patriarchal double standard in which an adulterous woman is punished by society while an adulterous man is not.

Maggie Cheung's performance is quite good. First of all, she pulls off being an actress playing an actress who is very immersed in her work.

Everyone in this movie is exceedingly composed - they speak carefully, and walk perpetually as if on eggshells. No one really comes alive until a scene at a dance hall near the end. But despite all the sugary politeness, Cheung successfully conveys a woman who is being slowly destroyed by her oppressive environment. And there are a couple scenes in which she completely loses it, and it's very affecting to watch.

The movie is very interestingly interspersed with clips from Ruan's movies, documentary footage of Ruan's surviving contemporaries, and the actors' conversations with the director.

The other actors, such as Tony Leung Ka Fai, Carina Lau, and Waise Lee, who are so interesting in other movies, all have little to nothing to do, except to look nice in period costume.

Also interesting is the fact that Carina Lau (who plays fellow actress Lily Li) looks much more like the real Ruan Lingyu than Maggie Cheung does.

Watching this film is a bit like watching a PBS documentary - edifying, educational, but not exactly fun.

Chow Yun Fat gives another energetic performance as Ching, a good-natured prisoner driven to the edge by a sadistic warden. The warden in this movie is more clearly a villain than in the first, since he enjoys pitting various prisoners against each other, as if for sport.

There is more emphasis on Ching's background than in the first movie, and more scenes take place outside of the prison. But despite the dramatic possibilities, one major flaw in the story line is that Ching never reaches an understanding with his wife.

But despite such a flaw, this movie is more about action, even more than the first, so it's not a big deal. This movie (as well as Prison on Fire, Part I) effectively conveys the futile and oppressive life inside a prison, and you can't help but feel happy for anyone who survives it.