Flaming Brothers

Two street rats named Alan and Ah Tien (Alan Tang and Chow Yun-Fat respectively) grow up to become members of the Triads until Tien finds a girl he fell for during his childhood, and decides to settle down with her. But things aren't that simple, and the conflicting interests of a powerful gangster are about to bring them back together.

Flaming Brothers is... well, it's pretty bad. Enjoyable, and hilarious, but for all the wrong reasons. The stock sound effects for the action scenes are distracting, and the acting by most of the cast is more scattershot than a blast from a Mossberg in the hands of a child. Characters die hilariously--I'll never forget the guy who kept himself alive just long enough to shoot the fuel tank on a forklift before lying down and "dying" instantly. The film is filled with moments like this, and all the better for it. Otherwise, it would be a boring mess.

It's toned unevenly, as Ah Tien bonds with his love interest while his brother Alan tries to work an arms deal. One is silly romantic slapstick and the other is amateurishly made action drama. It just doesn't mesh well.

Despite its massive flaws, though, I enjoyed Flaming Brothers, only because it's so bad, it's good.

This film sandwiched between the better tomorrow series and the Killer. If you want to see a guy getting shot more times than Scarface, then this films for you. Watch'em slug it out, shoot it out while Yun-Fat owns a 7-

The Flaming Brothers is an entertaining and better than average entry in. the flooded Hong Kong market of post A Better Tommorow gangster films. While the film has its flaws, it still is a good watch and is better than a lot of them. The Flaming Brothers has similar themes that are prevalent in the genre revenge, love, brotherhood and are done much better by John Woo. The Flaming Brothers may not have been directed by John Woo, but it does have Chow Yun Fat, who is sworn brothers with Alan Tam. In this film, The Flaming Brothers is an apt title as it is implied throughout the film the two brothers take the brotherhood thing to another level in an implied homoerotic relationship. The film is over the top as a whole and the love story with their women, the brotherhood and the action are split up in a way that they are almost 3 different films thrown together. The action/violence is very extreme with an amount of bullets and blood 10 times what John Woo would use. The way Woo would do it, it was graceful, here it is presented in a gristly, extremely brutal fashion. The Flaming Brothers checks a lot of boxes with standards/cliches in the heroic bloodshed genre with lots of melodrama, crazy action, good/bad gangsters and tradgedy. However, it is it's excesses that set it apart and in case I failed to mention Chow Yun Fat is in this.

On the back of the dvd case this film is described as a blood soaked gangster thriller. In actual fact, the film is actually just a romantic melodrama with a couple of violent shootouts. A big disappointment.

Alan Tang (Alan) and Chow Yun-Fat (Ah Tien) play two men who grew up together as street urchins on Macau. When they were boys, Ah Tien was caught stealing rice from the kitchen of the local orphanage by the girl Ka Hsi; instead of reporting him, she hid the theft from the Sisters and started smuggling food to him and the other street kids until she was adopted and left Macau for Hong Kong. Even as a young boy, Ah Tien loved Ka Hsi as much for her kindness as her food and was hurt deeply when she departed.

Younger, less experienced or fierce than the older boy Alan, Ah Tien is taken under Alan's wing. Together they become pickpockets and learn to survive as petty thieves in the streets of Macau. One day they they witness a local "Boss" extracting tribute from the same bullying adults who had recently terrorized the two little pickpockets, and the two boys made a vow that they would one day be in that position of power.

Fast forward to late 1970's Macau, where Alan and Ah Tien are now successful underworld figures on a small scale. The film begins in earnest at the opening of their nightclub, and hear we learn the dynamics of their business and of their personalities. Alan and Ah Tien are now as close as blood brothers, Alan as the Boss and Ah Tien as his second in command; they deal in illegal weapons, gambling and prostitution but according to Alan's principles they do not touch drugs. (Think of the speech of Don Corleone to the assembled Dons in "The Godfather".)

Because they are young and successful, they attract the ire of an older established Boss and the double-crossing begins. On a fateful trip to Thailand wheels are set in motion which will change the lives and loves of the two brothers.

The character of Alan is one of a man who is deeply devoted to the younger Ah Tien, and prizes him above all others. Alan is fierce, arrogant and cock-sure yet there is an underlying current of vulnerability about him which he tries desperately to hide. When he meets Jenny the cocktail lounge singer, he loves her for her rough bravado - she is his twin, a tough woman who deep inside is hiding a wealth of emotion. She is crass (dressed in her huge cow-print fur coat she looks like a walking ad for Gateway Computers) and has a big mouth. Alan says she is "bitchy, but I like that in a woman". After a humiliation at his hands in front of two Thai prostitutes, Jenny seems to have found the man who can tame her and joyfully comes home to Macau with Alan when he leaves Thailand.

In the meanwhile, Ah Tien has been ambling about on Macau in his usual amiable way. Ah Tien is young, handsome and obviously a protege of Alan only out of loyalty; his humor and carefree manner seem to mask all kinds of insecurities, and his baby face (even though CYF was 32 when the film was made, he looks 10 years younger) seems to be better suited to expressing genial good humor than hate and anger - unless he witnesses any slight to Alan, at which he explodes in rage.

A chance encounter (so often important in the course of HK film romance) connects him with Ka Hsi again, now back on Macau and teaching at the convent where she grew up, and where Ah Tien's godson is attending school. At first afraid to tell her who he is, Ah Tien romances Ka Hsi and falls in love with her; after having received his life-long wish to see her again, he never wants to be parted from her. She seems to hold for him the possibility of redemption for his former life of crime as much as being his dream woman; Ah Tien's affection for Ka Hsi is kind and gentle and seems pale in comparison to his fierce love for his brother Alan. Yet he is willing to forego his place in Alan's underworld in order to marry the righteous Ka Hsi, who will only marry him if he gives up all of his illegal activities. When confronted with the possibility of losing his beloved lieutenant, Alan demands that Ah Tien choose between Ka Hsi and himself, and though torn by the choice Ah Tien says he cannot live without Ka Hsi and leaves Alan's house and life with regret.

Upon the separation of ways of Alan and Ah Tien there are a few references by other characters to the sexuality of Alan and Ah Tien; Jenny, who is told that she will always come second to Ah Tien, spits out that Alan can "just go be gay" with Ah Tien. Later one of Alan's henchmen says that Alan should not grieve so openly at his quarrel and parting with Ah Tien, or people will "make fun of them as homosexual". We are left with the clear impression that their love for one another goes beyond brotherly bounds (as they are not blood brothers, but by bond of affection); this explains the jealous rage of Alan upon being rejected by Ah Tien for Ka Hsi, and also of Ah Tien's decision at the end of the film to face death with Alan rather than continue to live with Ka Hsi.

Because of the subplots of the emotional dynamics of Alan, Ah Tien and the two women in their lives, this film is taken above the usual action shoot-'em-up and begins to land in solid territory. Without the tension between Alan and Ah Tien the ending would have been sterile, but as it is their final words are poignant and touching. Jenny, the bad girl who will do anything once, is an interesting character which of the two women is fleshed out a bit more and gives some interest to the story, whereas Ka Hsi as the woman of God seems to be bloodless; we can see why in the end Ah Tien realized that his path lay with Alan and not her.

There is the usual amount of violence in this film, nothing which will be shocking to those to have seen a goodly amount of HK action films. There is one *very* funny scene in which CYF dresses up in makeup drag and does a sort of Boy George impression, leading a karaoke to some Cantonese pop song about being a bad girl last night.

While the action story is very formulaic, the talents of Alan Tang and CYF make the romantic subplots interesting and well worth watching. Alan Tang was considered one of the handsomest leading men in his day, with a very stylized appearance and method of acting. CYF, with an acting style as sheer as that of Catherine Deneuve, is more informal and relaxed. This is a happy combination for this film about two men who are essentially different but who choose to conform to a standard out of love and loyalty.

This is a film that both action and romance fans will enjoy, as long as they are not overly sensitive to the gay undertones. For my money, this makes the performances all the more interesting. A good choice of earlier CYF flicks, even though he is not cast in the leading role.