A new year and a new film for the blog. I'm still stuck in the UK with very limited pickings in terms of films so have resorted to another famous local HK one of which I have a copy handy here in London.
This time we are looking at the locations used for Johnnie To's 2005 film, Election. The Chinese name of the film is actually just 黑社會, which means "triad society" but I think the English title conveys a slightly better feeling for what the film is about. It centres around the leadership battle between two prospective triad leaders played by Simon Yam and Tong Leung (the other one, Leung Ka-fai). Yam is the level headed business type whereas Leung plays the - verging on psychotic - power mad tough guy. Leung loses the election and uses his followers to basically kill, maim and intimidate his way to sway the outcome. Much of the action centres around both sides trying to get hold of the society's baton, the ownership of which seems to confer the legitimacy of the leadership.
The film starts with Leung (his character name is Big D) trying to enlist some support for the yet-to-happen titular election on a small boat in the middle of Sam Ka Tsuen Typhoon Shelter.
No comments:
Post a Comment