Une nuit à Mongkok

Set over the course of three days and two nights, One Night In Mongkok sifts through several stories weaving together the joint themes of fate and sin coupled together with the violence that is inevitably associated with the genre. While being heavily praised, and winning various awards at the ever increasingly dubious Hong Kong Film Awards, One Night In Mongkok is a pretty timid affair, which sacrifices continuity, gripping characters and more over a worthy plot for pretty cinematography and an over inflated sense of self important philosophy.

Throughout the duration of its two hour course, Mongkok shows promise sporadically as it never maintains the gritty integrity that it does eventually manage to capture in varying moments. The distaste for the film derives from an extremely languishing start which crescendos into a severely incoherent plot that will make the most ardent Tartan Asia Extreme fan scratch their heads in bewilderment. That's not to say the plot is incomprehensible, merely that it jumps around from scene to scene veering off at random tangents away from established story lines to eventually, and only just, making 'a' point of sorts, but never arriving at the destination from which it set off from in the first place. The director does show that he has a penchant for framing a shot, and indeed highlights his ability to create stirring and gripping moments which do provide something fresh to the crime thriller genre. However, fifteen minutes of footage is not sufficient enough to compensate for a severely Luke warm story which sets itself out as a different prospect from its contemporaries, but comes across as severely generic.

That which is most infuriating about the film, is the fore-mentioned sense of self importance. While ostensibly a crime drama, Mongkok quickly descends into a morality tale of quite obvious proportions, and chooses to opt for brashness instead of subtlety when it comes to sledgehammering its point across. What point you ask? Again, the point is fairly well devised to an extent, but is extraordinarily generic, as it claims that 'good guys' are not always righteous as they appear, and that nor are the 'bad guys' as unemotional as they may be perceived to be. It also throws around a sense of karmic justice as the "it's fate would have it....and so would sin" line resonates off key throughout the films latter stages, therefore providing a justification for the director to cram home the 'twists' and 'turns' (the apostrophe's denoting a sarcastic appraisal of the terms).

The director, Tung-Shung Yee comments on the social failings of the police force in Hong Kong, which culminates in a wonderfully constructed scene involving a bungled arrest turned cover-up by the police. Unfortunately his spoken text, the passing down of 'wisdom' from senior police officer to his junior proves to be a double edged sword, as it provides for the irony in the films closing moments. The problem with Mongkok is that Yee wishes to have his cake and eat it. He cannot decide whether or not he should be praising the police, or condemning them, making the audience sympathise with Lai Fu and then be forced to feel little for him. It's indecisive cinema which aims high but punches well below its weight.

The main problem with Mongkok lies in that it does try to be a successful piece of cinema, it tries to be a blistering affair, and to be fair it does succeeds, but to the annoyance of the viewer only momentarily. There are unnecessary moments throughout this film like the battering ram philosophical approach or the unnecessarily chrome start to the film when the cinematography throughout is crisp and well composed. Its chopping and changing story is severely unrefined, and while the story itself can be perfectly understood it provides for rather static viewing when the story need be flowing. One Night In Mongkok sets its aims high, and that cannot be taken for granted, for rather a failed film with noble intentions than a profitable success which will forgo the integrity. But what really grates is the incessant comparison by Film Review, lower brow newspapers and certain IMDb reviewers with the simply brilliant Infernal Affairs. Having been swayed initially by the extract on the front which compared Mongkok to Infernal, I find myself not disgusted just severely disappointed with the effort. I steadied myself for a rip-roaring epic, a film worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as Infernal, and I got an Infernal Affair for all the wrong reasons. To be frank there are much grander films in the Tartan Asia collection which supercede this effort, A Bittersweet Life springs instantly to mind, and while the film may appeal to some it lacks the longevity to truly compete with which it sets out to emulate. By all means have a look but you'll be checking out once you realise that one night truly is too long a stay in Mongkok.

ONE NITE IN MONGKOK, a Hong Kong cop thriller about an assassin about to carry out his first hit, sounds like the typical all-action thriller, but on watching it turns out to be something much darker, more subtle and mature in its developing themes. It's a highly effective cat and mouse thriller that prioritises character over action and is all the better for it.

Daniel Wu is one of my all-time favourite Chinese stars and this is one of his top roles. His character, a would-be assassin starting out on his first job, sounds unsympathetic at first but he grows on you as the film develops, and as his growing relationship with Cecilia Cheung is handled sympathetically and with realistic emotion. By the end, you're rooting for him and his cause.

The rest of the film is more familiar, but it all works and slots into place nicely. Alex Fong's bull-headed cop is a worthwhile adversary for our star, and the supporting cast of pimps and drug dealers, grasses and gangsters, is a well developed one. Although the film sometimes has shades of BOURNE it develops its own unique style as it progresses, gradually building to an ultimately devastating climax which took my breath away. It's an astonishing way to end a film, and one which has stayed with me days later.

This film opens with a minor confrontation between two groups in Hong Kong; this leads to a car crash that kills the son of a local gang leader and hospitalises a young woman. He calls in a man from Mainland China to get his revenge. This man, Lai-fu, has another reason to come to Hong Kong; he wishes to find his fiancée, who has gone missing. As he searches he crosses paths with other gangsters and ends up rescuing a prostitute, Dandan, who was being beaten; this leads to her staying with him throughout most of the film. Meanwhile the police have heard that a killer has arrived in the territory and they are determined to find him.

I really enjoyed this Hong Kong crime drama. The characters are less clichéd than one might expect; the 'killer' is surprisingly sympathetic and the police are morally ambiguous. Filmed in Mongkok the action feels real... I particularly liked a scene where a police sidearm is discharged in a confined space and those present are left with ringing ears; something I'm sure would happen but I don't recall seeing in other films. The film is fairly gritty for the most part but it still manages to provide some unforced laughs which nicely lighten the tone... and make the darker moments all the more shocking. The cast does a fine job; most notable Danial Wu and Cecilia Cheung as Lai-fu and Dandan. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Hong Kong crime dramas.

These comments are based on watching the film in Chinese with English subtitles.

Asian cinema does it again. Whilst the rest of the world simple gasps at the quality of films the far east is churning out, they continue to let the stream of quality films continue, with this being near the top. The film follows the hunt by a set of policemen chasing a hit-man, who unbeknown to them is a young inexperienced hit-man. If he is not stopped it could lead to all out gang warfare, as he is hired to kill after gang tensions lead to the death of the son of a head gangster.

The hit-man is though the main character ultimately, and he is tagged with a prostitute who by coincidence also comes from a poor region in China. Both contrast each other, but are two sides of the same coin with respect to their current roles. Film builds up using the surroundings of the congested dog-eat-dog world of Mongkok, and takes us on a blind tour of the district and its world where anything and everything is for sale.

Its a film that will intrigue and disturb in equal measures, but don't let that put you off. The film is brilliantly acted, and it is hard to know at times who is on the side of right and wrong, reminiscent of Heat in that sense. Tense, twisting and intelligent, this is a must-see and surely must rank with some of the best that have come out of the HK stable this decade.

The tension building is quite successful. The direction is suspenseful, atmospheric, and assured. The audiences just keep wondering what would happen next from start to finish. There are four acts. The first act is a slow setup. There are three enthralling action sequences in the rest three acts, each of which has its buildup and climax.