ACF 095: PTU available on DVD

PTU: Police Tactical Unit
Directed by Johnny To
Hong Kong, 2003
Runtime: approximately 85 minutes

When it comes to crime capers or police procedurals, Johnny To is the contemporary Hong Kong master. In this film he's produced a fine study of what he calls "the blue curtain," the protective brotherhood that binds enforcers of the law together, even when they engage in questionable, if not outright illegal, tactics. It was a personal film, shot over a three year period on a very low budget. While not one of his best films, it's a good one. And it recently became available on a single-disc Special Collector's Edition from Dragon Dynasty.

Simon Yam (above) stars as Sergeant Mike Ho, who heads a unit out on their nightly rounds. As they are driven to their drop-off point, they discuss a major robbery earlier that day which cost one of their fellow officers his life. Little do they know the strange and dangerous evening they're about to face.

The same is true of plainclothes policeman Lo Sa, played by Lam Suet, one of Hong Kong's finest character actors. In the course of chasing a punk who's damaged his car, Lo Sa loses his pistol. Though this should immediately be reported to the superintendent, the blue curtain comes into play, and the PTU personnel agree to hold off until morning, hoping that either they or Lo Sa will be able to retrieve the gun by then.

Meanwhile, the young son of one triad leader has been killed by a member of another gang, so murderous revenge is in the air. And someone is going around breaking the windows of parked cars on the city's silent streets, setting off their alarms.

Before dawn arrives these various developments will come together in a finale that provides a satisfying payoff, even if it's a bit heavy on coincidence.

Director To wanted to make this a personal statement about the way a group of policemen work, to show their team spirit, even if he didn't personally agree with all of their methods. To finance it, he had to keep costs down. That's part of the reason why it takes place in the course of one evening: he didn't want to have to deal with the difficulty and expense of crowd control during the busy daylight hours.

He also had to meet his commitments for making other, commercial films, seven of which he shot during the three years it took to get PTU in the can. This meant that for continuity his male actors and the two featured actresses had to be able to wear their hair the same way and to keep their weight consistent during this lengthy period. At one point when shooting was to resume, one actress had put on several pounds that altered her look too much. To gave her fifteen days to lose ten pounds, according to Simon Yam!

Knowing all this, one can't help but be struck by what a remarkable achievement the film is. There isn't the slightest hint that it was shot over such a long period with numerous interruptions of various lengths.

Lam Suet as Sergeant Lo Sa

Still, PTU is a little thin on the bone. I found the finale very satisfying, as I've said, but there's not a lot of action along the way. Some scenes just didn't have the payoff that I was expecting or hoping for, leaving me with a "that's it?" feeling. A scene in a video game parlor and another in a stairwell come to mind.

On the other hand, I've watched the film twice, the first time several months ago, and I wasn't bored watching it again on this new DVD release. (The DVD, by the way, has the fine video transfer and really good audio quality that's a hallmark of Dragon Dynasty releases.)

So all in all, I think PTU deserves 2.5 out of 4 stars, a recommendation that's a bit on the moderate side, not quite solid. Like I said at the beginning, it's not one of To's best films (Breaking News, Election, and Exiled are just three of his better outings), but it's definitely got his style and panache; it's well worth watching and holds up to repeated viewings.

And I feel it's only fair to mention that the film won 11 out of 19 awards that it was nominated for at various festivals and ceremonies. Wins include best original screenplay for Yau Nai-Hoi and Au Kin Yee at the 2003 Golden Horse Film Festival and best director for To at the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, both in 2004.

As for the DVD extras, listed below, they're definitely decent. There's no "making of" doc, but the interviews are quite interesting and a commentary by Bey Logan is always welcome. The guy really knows his stuff and puts it across well.

DVD info:
Format: widescreen, enhanced for 16x9 TVs
Languages: Cantonese Dolby 5.1, English Dolby 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish

Extras:
Feature Commentary:
- by Bey Logan, an extremely knowledgeable veteran of the Hong Kong film industry
Three Interviews, in Cantonese with English subtitles:
- Into the Perilous Night with Director Johnny To
- On the Trail of the Smoking Gun with Simon Yam
- Cool as a Cat with Maggie Shiu, who plays Kat, another police officer
Trailers:
- Original trailer
- U.S. promotional trailer

ACF 094: "Blue Dragon" coming on Cartoon Network

The Blue Dragon animated series will be shown in the U.S. on the Cartoon Network starting this spring. The show is based on the popular Xbox 360 videogame developed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy. It features character designs by Akira Toriyama, creator of the Dragon Ball manga series.

The Blue Dragon TV series debutted in Japan on April 7, 2007. It's an adventure story about Seven Soldiers of Light who mush awaken the magical Shadow powers within themselves, fight a despotic power and bring piece to their land.

Blue Dragon has been licensed for U.S. distribution by VIZ Media, which also handles the Naruto, Death Note, and Bleach animated series.

ACF will try to bring you anime lovers more info as it becomes available.

ACF 093: Who Killed Empress Wan in "Legend of the Black Scorpion"?

SPOILER ALERT !!!
This article reveals some plot points in the film
Legend of the Black Scorpion.

Several people have been referred to my review in ACF 079 when they ran searches that asked, in essence, "Who killed Empress Wan in Legend of the Black Scorpion?" I didn't discuss the matter in my review, but since there seems to be at least a fair amount of interest in the question, here goes.

The short, and correct, answer is that the film does not reveal who kills Empress Wan (Zhang Ziyi) at the end of the film. Neither Feng Xiaogang, the director, nor the cast have said. In his interview on Disc 2 of the Dragon Dynasty DVD release, actor Daniel Wu (Prince Wu Luan) teasingly says that he knows but won't tell.

My thought, when I first saw the film at the 2007 New York Asian Film Festival, was that it was the ghost of the dead Emperor, Prince Wu's father, who killed her. I mean, if his armor can bleed, why couldn't he strike her down after all the misfortune that she'd caused, even if she didn't do it deliberately?

One of the members of Subway Cinema, the organization that sponsored the festival, told me that he thought it was Minister Yin, who had been sent into exile by the Empress. The logic here was that he was the only significant character that was still alive. Turns out this was close to the mark.

Bey Logan, in his terrific commentary accompanying the movie on Disc 1, discusses what he knows, and sheds considerable light on the vexing question. According to him, the script originally called for the one maid who is seen in several shots throughout the film (she's in the background in the screen shot above) to kill the Empress. Furthermore the murder was done at the bidding of Minister Yin, who certainly had motives.

I believe Logan also said that scenes that would have given the maid greater presence, and perhaps some that actually showed the order being given and the deed being done, either were not shot or were deleted when the director decided to make the ending ambiguous.

So there's the best answer available that I know of. As Logan delightfully puts it: "It was the maid what done it."

ACF 092: Funky Forest - Seattle Screeenings

Funky Forest copyright 2004 "Naisu no Mon" Production Committee. All rights reserved.

Cult comedy and festival hit Funky Forest: The First Contact moves to the second leg of its three city theatrical release tour today. Seattle area residents will be able to catch the fun film through Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at:

Grand Illusion Cinema
1403 NE 50th Street Seattle
Seattle, Washington 98105

For info and showtimes, click here, or call 206.523.3935

I reviewed the Funky Forest 2-disc DVD from VIZ Pictures in ACF 089. I hope that Asian Cult Film Fans in and around Seattle, and Los Angeles where the film will play next, don't let the availability of the DVD disuade them from seeing it in a theatre. It's a very funny film and can best be appreciated in the presence of a large group of kindred spirits. So have a fun time and support the theatrical releases of Asian films.

ACF 091: Yakuza Films @ Asia Society

Photo courtesy of KADOKAWA PICTURES, INC.

It seems that barely a day goes by in New York without an Asian film series or screening. Tonight, Thursday, March 20th, 2008, there are at least two films to pick from.

As I mentioned yesterday in ACF 090, The Korea Society is offering a screening of Lee Chang-dong's Green Fish.

Well, Asia Society and The Japan Foundation have been presenting a series entitled Gamblers, Gangsters and other Anti-Heros: The Japaneze Yakuza Movie. Curated by author and critic Ian Buruma, the series consists of five films made by Toei Studios from the late 1960s to early 1970, a period during which this genre blossomed. The series started off on March 6th with A Tale of Two Yakuza. (Sorry I didn't have the opportunity to write about that.)

Tonight the series continues with Hoodlum Soldier / Heitai yakuza (1965), "a highly unusual yakuza film, as it places the noble codes of the old-fashioned yakuza in the context of army brutality in World War II."

Showtime for this and the remaining three films in the series is 7:00 PM.

Asia Society is located at 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, NYC.

For more info, or to purchase tickets online, click here.