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Infernal Affairs Trilogy
This is one series of films, I would like to describe to you all, as this is amid my top films of the past few years.
The story concerns the police in Hong Kong, and we have a wonderful expose, and a great story, a story of good cop / bad cop. All three movies are extremely subtle and very closely knit, though the 1st and 2nd stand out as the best of the trilogy, the third does not hold the same kind of subtle suspense and emotional gravitas as the others.
The cinematography here, is very complimentary to the movie making, very sharp, and never lets up the suspense of the characters, the 1st is a simple story of two cops separated and heading into different paths, an excellent movie of it’s own right. The “tapping” scene was very well done by Tony Leung, and it was a joy to watch all the way through The prequel, Infernal affairs 2, is in my opinion one of the finest pieces of cinema ever, after you have watched Ia 1, you will know the characters very well, and this second version takes you further into them, exposing their action and modus operandi. I was astonished, at how tight the story felt.
There are some superlative performances here, first of all by Francis Ng, he is the head of the Triad syndicate, and he plays one of the coldest and evilest looking criminals ever. The music is reminiscent of some parts of the God father trilogy, and later, more like Lalo Schiffrin’s scoring of the “Dirty Harry” series.
When you watch the second one, you will be filled in, on some of the actions of Andy Lau’s character in Ia1. I really loved this one the most out of the rest. The subtle film making skills held by Andrew Lau, are breath taking and mystical. The film feels very cogent, at no point in the movie do you feel bored, or un engaged. It is an unforgiving and awesome narrative of crime.
The third part of the Ia trilogy, is the worst. I did not like it as much as the rest, and there are some additional characters that have been placed to further the story, which I found annoying in the most extreme, bar that the movie completes the villain’s profile, and brings to finish and awesome series of movies. I really loved the whole series. I recently bought the trilogy, and the special 300 minute version helps more of the story, though I haven’t sat to watch that yet!
For further info check http://www.imdb.com
Oldboy
You watch films all your life, and you pick up themes you like, and you pick up aspects of cinema that become endearing to you and remain with you for the rest of your life, whether is a particular scene or, a particular character, these things will be with you, if you truly enjoy a movie. With Oldboy you are barricaded with a very mystifying beginning, much like Memento and you begin to piece together what Dae-Soo is going through. He is the lead, played by the fantastic Min Sic Choi. He delivers a sublime electrifying performance in this movie, much like Failan he goes through a multitude of emotions, and you as a viewer are invited to join him through clearing the many clues he has to solve the quandary that lays ahead of him.
The cast in this are nothing short of brilliant. In effect not only do they convincingly make you believe and empathize with their plight, but make you fall into their lives, this is probably testament to the directorial excellence of Chan woon park I am at the end of this month going to get a few of his other movies, since what he has done here is nothing short of breath taking.
The camera work is so sharp and well adjusted to each scene, the sickeningly slick frames make you feel and taste the movie. Its hard to explain this effect, but it’s a high contrast movie, much like the camera work in Monster’s Ball. It draws the audience very up close to the characters, and makes me feel their pain, euphoria and love. Nicely done, and supremely precise.
There are some truly comical moments in the film, which made guffaw, but the essential gravitas here is the relationship between the prisoner, and the person who imprisoned him, I don’t want to reveal too much, but the crux of the story is of a man who has been locked up for 15 years, and then suddenly released, the film carries on with revelations of why he has been imprisoned, and slowly the quintessential reus of the plot becomes to be. The twists and turns will polarize many audiences, I found it very wonderful, and well played considering the cues from earlier on in the film. But friends of mine were quite un amused and hated it.
This film plays on the most fundamental parts of what it is to be human, and will ask of you to question the ideals behind love and conceptual relationships between people, you’ll know more of what I mean when you see the movie! I loved all of what the director was saying, and it spurred me into a few heavy discussions with friends, one of the key aspects of cinema is to rouse conversation, and this film does it with effortless disdain.
There are not many flaws here, the musical sound track is well integrated into the pace of the movie, the swift editing is superb, the camera work is great and the cast are appealing and very suiting to their roles. The only small and minor complaint I have is the gravity of the situation to which the response given is. But then I supposed another idea my friend gave me, and I accepted it. The plausibility of the story is also something you should evaluate by yourself. It is a monumental piece of cinema, unique in its context, and surprising in it’s integrity. Not a movie for all, but definitely a movie for everyone who wants to taste cinema in its rawest evolving form. |
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