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Awards
at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2004:
Professional Recommendation Award: Best New Director (Edmond
Pang)
Best Supporting Actor (Tony Leung Kar-Fai)
Award
at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards 2004:
Film Of Merit
Nominations
at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards 2003:
Best Director (Edmond Pang)
Best Original Screenplay (Edmond Pang, Patrick Kong &
Erica Lee)
Best Supporting Actor (Chapman To)
Best Original Film Score (Peter Kam & Anthony Chu)
In an
recent interview, director Edmond Pang talked about the acting
approach to Men Suddenly In Black as being serious
even though it's a comedy. For me, that stance didn't seem
special or a reason to work up much excitement about the film
but Men Suddenly In Black comes from the director of
one of the most fun comedies out of Hong Kong in the last
few years, You Shoot, I Shoot. Therefore I went into
this film with huge excitement and the end result can be summarized
like this: Edmond Pang strikes again!
Kwok (Eric Tsang), Dr Lee Wing-Cheung (Jordan Chan), Tsui
Kiu (Chapman To) and Paul (Spirit Blue) are on a mission.
Their women are away for 14 hours and it's time to screw around
because of it. Everything is carefully planned, most of the
things go wrong fairly quickly but one thing they didn't count
on. That their wives and girlfriends would figure out what
they were up to. The hunt is on...
Director Pang's freshman effort, You Shoot, I Shoot
is a difficult movie to top so going into Men Suddenly
In Black with those expectations is not the wisest thing
to do. A lot of things remain clear after watching his newest
comedy though. Pang has a good sense of style for a film like
this, there's sharp writing on display and ultimately he proves
that You Shoot, I Shoot wasn't beginners luck.
Taking the subject of cheating on your wives and weaving
it into a comedy can present a set of problems. The subject
isn't a very pleasant one and you shouldn't joke around with
it. What could've been one of my few criticisms against You
Shoot, I Shoot was its approach to violence and death.
On the other hand, it was only supposed to be a fun a movie
and sometimes you should just let go of your moral standpoints.
Men Suddenly In Black goes down a similar path but
does divulge into reasons for the men's behaviour, without
disrupting a flow to what essentially is a thriller-comedy
in a way. Pang and his screenwriters makes the wise choice
to not portray our four men in black as heroes or men to sympathize
with. Even their reasons for going on this journey are pretty
far fetched but probably makes very much sense within themselves.
No, Pang is observing and capturing their behaviour, not commenting
on whether we should accept it or not and that approach works
well. Thanks to Erica Lee, the women's perspective is made
clear also and they are far from flawless themselves. Therefore
it creates a dynamic where most of the sympathy goes towards
the women but also a study of couples who have this idea of
cheating on their loved ones.
Men Suddenly In Black stands out in the current Hong
Kong cinema catalogue because it's one of the few not taking
on a tired, tried formula. Actually that isn't true to an
extent and I'll explain why. For the majority of the film,
the actors are performing the comedy and acting out the plot
completely straight. That means, very few gestures and comedic
hijinxs are on display but obviously it's directed in a comedic
fashion. The dialogue is awfully clever at times since it's
placed in a plot like this but would be awfully clichéd if
it had belonged to what it actually should logically belong
to, a triad-thriller. This is a daring approach, one that
works very well because Pang never lets go of that focus.
His actors are in tune with the material and never really
acknowledges that they are funny, just that they want and
are having fun which could also happen if this had actually
been an expected genre piece.
Within this, Pang continues to infuse his film with a quick-cutting
style to enhance the atmosphere. Again this is an example,
just like the dialogue, that it wouldn't have worked in a
thriller but for a comedy like this, Pang makes sure it's
about adding a level of fun and not just cool shots he can
do because he can. There's more of this in the first half
while the second calms down. Through Wenders Li's editing
there's a few terrific examples of how dialogue punchlines
do wonders in its simplicity. Sure the actors like Eric Tsang
in his first scene with Maria Cordero brings a lot but to
seal that comedic point requires work all the way up till
post production. Actually because of the serious approach
to characters, this is not a laugh fest as such but it remains
VERY amusing since the actual seriousness in the story is
actually a gag in itself. It's tongue in cheek the way Pang
uses the tone of course and by distancing himself from the
fact that it's not serious makes for great amusing moments.
The first half also holds a series of movie spoofs without
the film actually being one. You got a Fargo-esque
opening disclaimer and the title sequence obviously is lifted
from Se7en. Reservoir Dogs also gets a nod or
two and Tsang gets to parody his own performance from Infernal
Affairs. These aren't great spoofs as such but doesn't
hurt the fun atmosphere. Arguably the greatest sequence is
the chase in the alley that switches guns for water hoses
and cameras instead. It's wonderfully staged by Tung Wai and
strays from reality like most Hong Kong action movies do.
Pang switches the narrative to the women at a certain point
and here are where the films falters a bit. He gets his points
across from the women's perspective but he really should've
included a better sense of style to this long sequence starting
in the plane to the point where wives are stopped by the police.
It's a bit tedious but Pang picks himself up when the men
enters the story again and it's a pleasing ride all up till
the end. Peter Kam and Anthony Chu are on board to provide
the films overly dramatic score. It's composed like a b-movie
thriller and really holds nothing back in moments of drama,
tension or joy. Pang has communicated his vision well to the
composers and they have responded with a score that is ALSO
greatly in-tune with the film. Peter also provided the music
for You Shoot, I Shoot.
The main leads, Jordan Chan, Eric Tsang & Chapman To do perfectly
fine work but newcomer Spirit Blue, playing the young mainlander,
obviously hasn't been given the most demanding dialogue or
performance tasks because honestly I don't think he would
be up to it. We leave the so called complicated acting to
the veterans plus Chapman To, who is less annoying than usual.
Maybe it's because he's in virtually every Hong Kong movie
nowadays that we now have gotten used to him, in a negative
way? The ladies consist of a serious of familiar faces with
Candy Lo walking away with the acting trophy out of them.
I really liked her determination and energy in her paranoid
quest to catch the mean doing what they shouldn't. We also
get a bunch of cameos, the funniest coming from Tony Leung
Kar-Fai as a husband who got caught and now lives a prison
existence with his wife, played by Sandra Ng. Cheung Tat-Ming,
Eric Kot, Stephanie Che, Lam Suet, Chin Kar Lok and Sammo
Hung also appears.
Men Suddenly In Black isn't better than You Shoot,
I Shoot if you really, really must compare but it is a
cleverly written comedy with performances to match that. Few
Hong Kong movies try different approaches and Edmond Pang
has proven now that he's got an eye for originality. He certainly
makes Hong Kong cinema looks a hell of a lot better than it
has for the last year or so.
The DVD:
This is a 2 disc Special Edition from Mei
Ah that strangely hasn't been made available at all online
stores. DDDHouse only sold this edition for a short while
before only taking in stock of the single disc edition. People
from North America apparently also have had trouble acquiring
the disc from Yesasia's North American portal but the global
site stocks the 2 disc version. I have no idea why this situation
has occurred but since the discs comes in separate amarays,
to re-pack the edition wouldn't be much of a problem. EDIT:
Reports as of 04/05/18 is that the 2 disc version is now being
sold in a single amaray as well.
Regardless, the 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer
looks very sharp and colourful with only few specks on the
print. A nasty line does appear briefly in the scene where
the men visits Tony Leung's character.
The Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 track uses
the surrounds very little but adds a lot of nice effects on
the front stage. Dialogue is always clear sounding. A Mandarin
5.1 dub is also included.
The English subtitles has a few sloppy errors
but on the whole seem like a well-done translation by Mei
Ah. Considering the time post-production lasted (as you'll
learn in the commentary), the subtitles should be considered
excellent despite flaws. Traditional and simplified Chinese
subtitles are also included.
On the first disc we also find an audio
commentary with director/co-writer Edmond Pang, co-writer
Patrick Kong and editor Wenders Li. Commentaries are slowly
becoming more common special features on Hong Kong dvd's but
what isn't common is the inclusion of English subtitles for
the tracks. Mei Ah HAVE provided that for Men Suddenly
In Black though (as well as traditional and simplified
Chinese subtitles) and it was a pleasure to actually enjoy
this track as a Westerner. Kong and Pang dominate heavily
and discusses everything from how the project came together,
the serious themes of the film and a wealth of production
anecdotes.
The guys quickly sets the correct tone by
expressing their appreciation for these kind of tracks and
keeps things flowing with only a few small gaps of silence.
Kong and Pang have good chemistry but does have a tendency
to interrupt each other. That's a minor quibble and all throughout
there are much informative subjects touched upon such as the
movies behind the movie spoofs, what the Se7en credit
sequence has to do with the plot of Men Suddenly In Black
and Pang even points out scenes he's not happy with. There's
much to enjoy here and the guys clearly had great fun while
doing this commentary. The subtitles
are more flawed than the feature but overall they relay the
information by the filmmakers pretty well. Excellent initiative,
Mei Ah!
Finishing off the first disc are trailers for The Romancing
Star 1 & 2 (recently reissued in anamorphic transfers
by Mei Ah) and the newest film from Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai,
Running On Karma.
(director Edmond Pang at work and actor Tony
Leung Kar-Fai in character, from the making of)
The 2nd disc, named 60 Minutes Special Mission holds the
rest of the extras, starting with Director's Statement.
This 2 screen essay by Pang briefly goes over how he misses
the golden era of Hong Kong, mostly symbolized by the closure
of the Tonnocchy Night Club (also a plot point in the film).
He himself wasn't around for that era and he writes that Men
Suddenly In Black is to him, in part, a memorial
to the golden age of Hong Kong. A bit of a downer but it proves
there lies serious thoughts behind what could be considered
a whacky film.
The making of lasts 22 minutes and 8 seconds, comes
with optional English subtitles (in addition to traditional
and simplified Chinese ones) but is very low on good information.
The usual cast & crew interviews appear but only a few
notes by Pang and about Pang can be considered informative.
The director talks about Hong Kong's bad economy as being
a theme and how his mindset were during the shooting in regards
to the merging of genres but that's about it. Big thanks to
Mei Ah for providing subtitles but it's still program you'll
probably only watch once.
The Deleted Scenes section disappointingly has no
subtitles whatsoever so these 5 clips are hard to judge in
terms of quality content. As far as I could gather though,
4 of them are extended scenes.
To access the Outtakes Footage you have to play a
little game that involves choosing, in the right order, the
places the men visits in the movie. Not too difficult but
the reward is 7 minutes of actors flubbing their lines. Even
if subtitles had been included, I doubt it would be funny.
Storyboard Comparisons (2 minutes, 14 seconds) showcases
3 scenes and how the filmed version compares to the storyboards.
I have never been too keen on this kind of feature but it
does nicely show the differences between what's drawn and
what ended up being shot. That a Hong Kong movie actually
used storyboards is a revolution in itself.
(a look at two poster designs in the photo
gallery)
Next are some standard extras; the theatrical trailer and
a TV-spot, a 30 page photo gallery that is dull except it
features a few different poster designs for the movie and
a music video by a band I'm not familiar with. It mostly consists
of movie clips intercut with the band recording the song in
the studio. Hong Kong always seems to make crappy videos and
this is no exception. The Data Bank has the plot synopsis
and a cast & crew listing. Select any of the male actors
and you'll find a bio for the character they play. A feature
that Mei Ah seem to have adopted recently. Finally, a phone
card comes with this 2 disc set. Fun.
Mei Ah have taken a great step forward in terms of supplements
by subtitling the audio commentary but it sadly remains the
only real informative extra in this set. I applaud them for
what they have done and let's hope they can do more. If you
care about these things I suggest you write a polite email
thanking Mei Ah for getting the Western market a chance to
almost fully understand the extras features. Official website
is www.meiah.com.
reviewed by Kenneth
Brorsson
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