One Nite in Mongkok

This morning the clouds threatened heavy rain but it never came. I took Sheila's dad over to the funeral home. He's getting on in years and Sheila was worried about him driving on the Met at his age. The drivers here in Montreal are Neanderthals at best and he would be meat in no time... anyhow it all went smooth. I came back and picked up some groceries and headed out after lunch.

Eyvind and I set out for the Fantasia 2005 Film Festival to see the Hong Kong thriller One Nite in Mongkok. http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/one_nite_in_mongkok.htm This is the Hong Kong Film Festival's award winner and I have to say it was a gritty, dirty, exciting fast paced movie. All or most of it took place at night over three days. A series of gang deaths sets off a revenge spree and the Hong Kong police were caught in the middle trying to track down a hired assassin from the Chinese countryside. It was in Cantonese with English subtitles so it was a bit hard to follow as the subtitles were sometimes faster than I could read.

Basically the cinematography was excellent. The gritty setting of Hong Kong and specifically the sprawling inner city of Mongkok was perfect for the setting. The contrasts presented were quite stark and some funny. Man versus machine or more specifically man vs technology... logic vs emotion, 21st century consumer society vs Chinese rural life... everything contrasted. The assasin was very uneducated, couldn't read or write, was focused entirely on finding his sister, seriously able to defend himself and was the only person in the entire movie that showed any deep emotion. The rest were like robots to some degree. The dialogue was weak at many points. Too simplistic and unnatural. I'm not sure if that's a translation problem or if that's really the way Cantonese translates directly. Somehow I didn't see the characters in the movie matching what they were saying at times. It got too sappy on occasion and just didn't fit the type of characters they were. The open scene of the initial gang clash though was the most intense and really set the mood. It made you swallow and grip your chair. Quite a fast agressive start actually.

Lastly the film was a real downer at the end (warning...spoiler coming...) pretty much everyone shows their warts and most of the main characters die violent deaths. The police come across as corrupt and those who remained alive, especially the female lead, never built up enough character appreciation to really care if they lived or not. Also, as commonly seen in Japanese movies, the over use of blood really came out at the end. It was a bit disgusting.

Even though I pointed out a whole lot of negative things the film was still quite good. The story was even throughout. Although I never really found anyone I was rooting for it still was exciting and fast paced. Not for the faint of heart though.





Anyhow after the film ended we headed over to Mesa 14, a Mexican restaurant just outside the Concordia University theatre and had a beer and some nachos. The food was better than normal. The heat outside though was overwhelming.... it soaks the life out of you. I can't stand the high humidity.