The Grandmaster

Wong Kar-wai's take on the life of Wing Chun master and Bruce Lee's guru Ip Man. It chronicles his early life in Foshan and his flight to Hong Kong after the Japanese invasion. Tony Leung plays the martial artist maestro with his usual relaxed ease. But other than for that and the brilliant cinematography, the film has very little to warrant an addition to Wong Kar-wai's list of masterpieces. The director has definitely lost his touch and his retirement would be welcomed by his fans.

Rating: * *

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Happy Together

A friend of mine once told me that in every relationship, there is a giver and a taker. This film is about such relationship with drastic skew. Set in Argentina, Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung play lovers who are constantly starting over.

Christopher Doyle's signature camera work brings to life the gritiness of Buenos Aires. The taxi scene is an echo from "In the Mood for Love" or maybe it is the other way around. In the center is the master, Mr. Cheung. All in all, a masterpiece from Wong Kar-Wai.

Rating: * * *

Ashes of Time Redux

Wong Kar-wai's re-edit of his 1994 Chinese period drama centers around Ou-yang Feng (Leslie Cheung), who lives on the edge of a desert eking out a livelihood by acting as a middleman. He matches his clients with the right type of services, be it a bodyguard or assassin! A wide array of characters sift across his timescape each fleeting as the desert sand. They all seem to project a sense of loss causing them to seek the past and regret the future.  Kar-wai in his usual meandering style, tries to stich the disparate storylines together. It his failure to do so cleanly that makes the film endearing and magical.

Rating: * * +

Healing Hearts

Dr. Ching (Tony Leung) is a doctor at a hospital in Hong Kong pining away for his ex-girlfriend. All that changes when a patient Jackie (Michelle Reis) awakens from a coma and waltzes her way into his apartment. But even Mr. Leung can't save this film which suffers from non-existent direction, a puke worthy script and a meandering storyline.

Rating: *

Cyclo

A pedicab driver (Le Van Loc) works hard to keep his family afloat. His elder sister (Tran Nu Yên-Khê) carries water to the market and pitches in too, along with their grizzled grandfather who fixes bike tires. But their "idyllic" life takes a turn for the worse when the pedicab is stolen. The brother plunges into the sleazy and cut throat underbelly of Saigon and the sister is turned to prostitution by her lover (Tony Leung).

The film shows you a young Tony Leung playing an intense role filled with inner conflict and bordering on perversion. Anh Hung Tran masterfully keeps you involved with minimal dialog and chilling imagery but at the end of it all you wonder if he could have gone the extra yard and stitched the pieces a tad tighter.

Rating: * *

Lust, Caution

Its always tough to deal with movies objectively when there is so much hype about. Even if its good hype - be it the sex scenes, or the fact that it is an Ang Lee film or having the enigmatic Tony Leung in it. Thats usually the problem watching Oscar winners and I find myself in a similar predicament.

Lust, Caution is well-crafted movie no doubt - good quality production and super performances from debutant Wei Tang and Tony Leung. Wei Tang is part of a student resistant movement against the Japanese regime in China / Hong Kong and is chosen to seduce a Chinese traitor - played by Tony Leung - and help in exterminating him. All this is set out early in the movie as it slowly develops. Its well into the second half, the wheels of the movie start working and complexities develop.

Tony Leung appears physically shrunken these days - but is successful in potraying a cold, calculated character. While Wei Tang I thought was stupendous in appearing as the fragile yet focused seductress - however a part of her is not sure what she really wants, which can be put down to her experiences in the past.

Would not put it down as an ore brilliant movie - think its down to the fact that it is a fairly simple script that hinges a lot on the performances of the two leads. Which admittedly were brilliant; they were able to create the kind of sexual tension that was sought and which then transgresses into the realm of something more. But for a short story to be expanded into a 2 hr 40 min movie, there needs to be more of a plot. Again, if not for the hype, one could have thought differently. Definitely worth a watch.

Rating: * * +

Flowers of Shanghai

The film opens at a dinner table with drunken men playing drinking games and waited upon by stunning women. There is a still impassive face in that crowd. A face that over powers every scene. Coming across a Hsiao-hsien Hou flick featuring Tony Leung, I was predictably drawn to it. The flowers in the movie are obviously not him but the courtesans who live in the expansive brothels of Shanghai in the 1880s. The women scheme to buy their freedom and love using "feelings" as a currency. A well shot period drama.

Rating: * *

Confessions of Pain

The title possibly refers to a viewer's first comments on the movie. Billed as the movie from the maker of 'Infernal Affairs' and despite putting together as good as a cast as it can get, I was disappointed. Which wasnt entirely unexpected.

Rating: * +

The Double Bill

Infernal Affairs
Tony Leung is a police mole in the mafia. Andy Lau is a mafia mole in the police. Let the cat and mouse games begin. One of the tightest gangster flicks I have ever seen. Completely stripped of unnecessary melodrama. Even the love interests of the two characters are subtly portrayed. Just a few conversations here and there to get the message across. And Tony Leung rules!!! Every time I see him on screen he just blows. The man's acting is effortless.

Rating: * * *

The Departed
Why would someone like Martin Scorsese have to dig into the Asian pocket and adapt a film, I know not. Andy Lau's role is played by Matt Damon and Tony Leung's is taken over by (snicker snicker) Leanordo Di Caprio. In an attempt to give more background and depth to the characters, Scorsese has made the film more noisier without adding anything to it except of course the unnecessary love triangle. But I have to say that Jack Nicholson does get under your skin as the Mafioso don.

Rating: * *

Days of Being Wild

This is the second time I am watching the movie and it yet again left me with the feeling of floating in space. Wong Kar Wai is sublime. This was his first movie with Chris Doyle and you can see the beginnings of ITMFL. The movie follows various characters trying to find meaning, purpose and direction to life who are left feeling disconsolate and lost in a world of missed opportunities. The pace is gentle but has a certain panache to it.

Maggie Cheung is ethereal and vulnerable. I think this is the film she looks the most beautiful in. It is interesting to note that she plays a character with the same name in ITMFL and Tony Leung shows up at the end looking very much like our friend Mr Chow.

Rating: * * *

Chungking Express

Couldnt resist putting this one up. its got everything about the movie in it.

Courtesy: a certain Jung-Hoon Seo

Rating: * * * +