Awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2005:
Best Director (Derek Yee)
Best Screenplay (Derek Yee)
Nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2005:
Best Picture
Best Actor (Alex Fong)
Best Actor (Daniel Wu)
Best Actress (Cecilia Cheung)
Best Cinematography (Keung Kwok-Man)
Best Editing (Cheung Ka-Fai)
Best Action Choreography (Chin Ka-Lok)
Best Original Film Score (Peter Kam)
Best Sound Design (Nip Gei-Wing & Chan Tsun-Bong)
Awards at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards 2005:
Best Director (Derek Yee)
Film Of Merit
Nominations
at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards 2004:
Best Picture
Best Director (Derek Yee)
Best Cinematography (Keung Kwok-Man)
Best Action Choreography (Chin Ka-Lok)
No
matter if Derek Yee takes multiple year long breaks between
his directorial gigs or short ones, he'll still remain one
of the most reliable profiles the Hong Kong film industry
has, despite only 9 directed movies since his debut in 1985
with the bleak masterpiece The Lunatics. Yee turns
his face away completely from last year's award winning drama
Lost In Time and returns to edgier filmmaking, akin
to what we saw in his early films, with One Nite In Mongkok.
A
petty conflict between youth-triads Franky (Sam Lee) and Tiger
leads to a fatal car crash, with the latter as the casualty.
The boss of Tiger, Tim, in a confrontation with Franky's head
Carl (the film's producer Henry Fong), not only wipes out
Franky but also contacts Liu (Lam Suet) to employ a Mainland
killer to take out Carl. The one choosen for that job is Mainlander
Lai Fu (Daniel Wu). Through circumstances occurring at the
same hotel as his, Lai Fu hooks up with fellow Mainlander
Dan Dan (Cecilia Cheung), a prostitute that leads him around
Mongkok in search of the actual primary target, his girlfriend
Sue, also one that's ended up as a street girl. Catching wind
of this plan to take out Carl is the Mongkok stationed police
force, led by scarred cop Milo (Alex Fong) and the hunt is
therefore on...
Setting
his 36-hour narrative right smack in the middle of the busy
area of Mongkok, Yee brings us a building piece. A tale of
chance and reluctant characters but ones that in Yee's world
exist, night after night in Mongkok. This is just one night.
There is a difficulty to One Nite In Mongkok, most
likely because Yee opts to build all throughout and introduces
various small but crucial characteristics and themes which
takes their time to fully set in. Having said that, I welcome
subtlety and obviously coming from Yee, the production was
bound to hold more complexities than your average triad/cops
flick.
Describing
why One Nite In Mongkok is a building piece, one has
to examine structure, one that isn't particularly noteworthy
for the genre. It really begins and stands well on its own
as a rather straightforward chase-thriller for the longest
of time. With the handheld, yet calculated camera style, Derek
furthers the portrayal young triads in Hong Kong cinema, and
probably does so in a realistic manner, as snotty punks with
bad fashion sense but is quick to establish that the actual
danger exists among the older triads heads, a point that will
ring true later on. It's really Young And Dangerous
plus cops but more professional and somber, with thrills in
the form of chases amongst the actual people and locations
around Mongkok, set against Peter Kam's pounding music cues.
This
genre stuff is obviously beneath Yee but he suitably builds
on that somber and downtrodden feel, which applies mostly
to the cops. Obviously anyone having to engage in a hunt for
a Mainland killer, in Mongkok, on Christmas eve, is going
to feel a little reluctant approaching the task but there
lies a certain aura here that everyone's rather worn out.
This exact scenario isn't probably what the police faces every
night but one can easily imagine a hopelessness having to
deal with this densely populated area night after night despite.
Yee definitely is back in some pessimistic trains of thoughts
akin to The Lunatics and his opening dialogue between
Alex Fong and Chin Ka-Lok is certainly something that speaks
to that pessimism.
One
gripe that one have to set aside is the lack of larger amounts
of character arcs. Because, as with Johnnie To's Breaking
News, we only see these people for the 110 minute running
time time. This means that One Nite In Mongkok is not
a full on character drama but one where characters continue
on a path they've already walked on for some time. Some may
end that path, some may progress and some may find it that
hope and dreams can not really be found, at least not in Hong
Kong. The movie brings up the point that that Hong Kong is
translated as sweet-scented, which during the course of the
movie the outside characters will find out is a bleak, bleak
irony.
It's
here that a potential danger is splendidly avoided by Yee
thanks to careful writing and correct casting. Take for instance
Alex Fong's Milo who we clearly see is scarred emotionally.
It's shortly explained, much within the flow of the film,
that he changed after a death shooting of a suspect and that
selected depth to the character still takes on much weight
since it heavily concerns itself with the night at hand. Milo
has to face his demons and also the subsequent portrayal of
the entire band of cops concerns lawlessness. Reason being
the avoidance of the bureaucratic hassle but more having to
do with letting the younger, still opportunistic rookies to
have some sort of path to walk on. Events are random, rarely
fair but it's very powerful how Yee manages to handle his
arcs in a scattershot way and still come out on top in terms
of the character depth for these guys.
For
Lai Fu, Daniel Wu's character, the visit to Mongkok surprisingly
holds another priority over his assassination task and that
is to bring back his only hope, his girlfriend, now prostitute
Sue. A savior if you will, his journey is further proof that
Yee is pouring out some of his darker thoughts on screen as
we know early on that Sue has already fallen victim to the
sweet-scented Hong Kong. Yee thinks that little saving can
be done tonight and the results are both unflinchingly brutal
and heartbreaking. On the acting side of things and in regards
to how Yee directs, you could draw a slight parallel to how
Sammo Hung made people look when action-directing them. Same
can be applied to Yee directing actors as he's shown again
and again that there are untapped resources waiting to be
brought out. Daniel Wu is not the best example of that even
though this is a serviceable performance. First of all, not
being an expert on Mandarin or any Chinese for that matter,
he doesn't sound much like a Mainlander but Yee has written
a calmness and righteousness to Lai Fu that plays better Wu's
wooden nature. It also makes the outbursts of violence in
his character more believable but on the whole, now a few
years after Daniel's breakthrough turn, critically, in Purple
Storm, we may have reached the peak of his ability? On
the other hand, I'm also willing to give him more time to
develop.
One narrative aspect where Yee seems to falter is when concerning
himself with Cecilia Cheung's Dan Dan. She is certainly very
clear in intent when looking at how Yee has scripted her but
there's nothing here that seems interesting enough to go alongside
the mentioned Milo and Lai Fu. She's obviously a mirror of
Sue for Lai Fu but it strangely ends there in terms of depth.
That and coupled with an awkward nature to Cheung's delivery
of Mandarin (which is, even though it surely is Cecilia doing
it, distractingly post-synced), the film loses something which
obviously in intent wanted to be crucial. Sharing billing
with Daniel and Cecilia, I'm not confident that Alex Fong
will finally be recognized by a larger group of the fan community
but his performance is another sign of him building on his
already established skills. Skills that most predominantly
are that of emoting true dignity and volumes of depth through
presence rather than dialogue.
The
supporting players also add colour to the mix, in particular
the comic relief of the film in the form of Lam Suet, playing
the goofy, ill-dressed, Mainland triad (with too many phones)
Liu. Chin Ka-Lok (who also supervised the action), playing
Brandon, the second in command after Milo and also the role
of mentor to a trigger happy rookie cop Ben (Anson Leung),
is terrific to have as he has developed a rather good presence,
at least for supporting roles since given the opportunity
by Yee in Full Throttle.
Derek
Yee, much part of a great past Hong Kong cinema, a present
Hong Kong cinema and the future of Hong Kong cinema but that
word misstep or falter when discussing a movie of his definitely
does and should ring of disappointment. The end result that
is One Nite In Mongkok is still evidence that it takes
a skilled director to get this much depth out of a chase-thriller
structure. The film holds thoughts, although bleak ones, and
the opening quote about both fate and sin placing you in the
midst of bad things will not prepare you, but assure you that
you're in for ALMOST consistent quality throughout.
The
DVD:
Universe,
with new logo and all, presents the film in a anamorphically
enhanced 2.31:1 aspect ratio. Aside from a few specks on the
print, this is a sharp and detailed presentation.
The
Cantonese/Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 track is powerful when
letting effects and score kick in during the various chases.
Dialogue also sounds clear when it's all about that. A Cantonese/Mandarin
DTS 5.1 and a Dolby Digital 5.1 Mandarin dub is also included.
The
English subtitles are terrific and helpful throughout, with
very few grammar or spelling problems. Traditional and simplified
Chinese subtitles are also included.
The
first disc of this set also includes a Director & Guest
audio commentary, with optional Traditional and simplified
Chinese subtitles only. Enjoy it those who can! Reportedly
the track features writer/director Derek Yee, Daniel Wu and
one of the stunt coordinators.
The
second disc holds more extras (none of which are subtitled
in English, except for the trailer) starting with the making
of (12 minutes, 53 seconds). Cast & crew interviews,
movie clips and very slight behind the scenes footage barely
makes this a one-watch for those of us in need of English
subtitles.
Next
up is a a 27 minute, 47 seconds Deleted Scenes-reel,
again with no English subtitles. Optional commentary is also
available. Scanning through it, it seems to exist of small
extended bits to the black & white opening (here presented
in colour), including a longer triad brawl. Furthermore, there's
more moments of abuse towards Milo's childhood friend, the
informer Kong and Yee takes Dan Dan & Lai Fu to a few
more places around Mongkok.
(a
look at one of the deleted scenes)
The
most apparent valuable added footage sees Milo bumping into
his wife with her new man and Liu escaping the clutches of
the police. The latter being fun only as an excuse to see
more of the wonderful Lam Suet! The extensions are minor and
doesn't seem to add much but without the aid of English subtitles,
I'm not able to judge that thoroughly obviously. Interesting
to note, there is an off-camera speaker cueing Cecilia Cheung's
Mandarin dialogue in of the extended scenes.
Midnight
Action holds three small featurettes, starting with Principal
Photography (1 minute, 57 seconds), showing the requisite
opening ceremony and one special feature that can be enjoyed
sans subtitles. Promotional Event (7 minutes, 13 seconds)
sees cast members Daniel Wu, Alex Fong, Chin Ka-Lok, Anson
Leung and Ken Wong on their promotional tour, arriving in
style on motorbikes, doing subsequent interviews with a very
energetic announcer, hand-print ceremony and topping it off
with an autograph session. Gala Premiere (6 minutes,
37 seconds) concerns, low and behold, the premiere! A not
very formal one judging by the wear of the cast and the segment
rounds off with fans, presumably, talking about their expectations
of One Nite In Mongkok. Even without the aid of subtitles,
this section is rather unspectacular.
(shots
from the Promotional Event and Principal Photography
featurettes)
Star's
Files on actors Daniel Wu, Cecilia Cheung, Alex Fong and
writer/director Derek Yee contains filmographies only. The
Photo Gallery (20 stills) has one behind the scenes
shot but otherwise are your usual publicity photos. Kudos
to Universe for maximizing the size of these by presenting
them full-screen. Trailers for One Nite In Mongkok
(teaser and theatrical), Enter The Phoenix, Anna
In Kung-Fu Land, Protégé De La Rose Noire and Love
On The Rocks finishes this release.
reviewed
by Kenneth
Brorsson
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