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STUDIO: IFC Films
MSRP: $19.95
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 89 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• The Making of ELECTION
• Interview with Johnnie To
• Interviews with Tony Leung Ka Fai, Simon Yam, Wong Tin Lam
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• English and Spanish Subtitles
The Pitch
"Its like Legends of the Hidden Temple minus the golden monkey"
The Humans
Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung, Cheung Siu Fai, Lam Suet
The Nutshell
The two-year term is up for the current chairman of the oldest Triad Society in town. The candidates for new leadership are the buttoned down business man Lok and the flamboyant rock star gangster Big D. So do the elders turn to an electoral college? Nope, just an advanced game of "find the stick." Apparently, regardless of who wins the election, if you don’t have the magic baton you don’t go home happy. So when the baton goes missing, everybody goes nuts and a whole ton of plot is headed your way.
The Lowdown
I’m really split on this one. While Election does an admirable job of setting up a large cast of characters and then keeps them continually spinning around one another for most of the running time, the whole affair seems kind of played out. Yes, we understand that people aren’t always what they appear and that brutality can be totally impulsive and unexpected. These aren’t new messages, and the film does little to inject new life into them. That being said, the script is built like a highly engineered whirly gig, the acting is all solid, and the restrained mis en scene heightens the sudden moments of violence to great effect.
She new the relationship was in trouble when he brought her to the breakup cliff.
This general feeling of appreciation without enjoyment continues throughout, as the plot thickens, curdles, gets a nice brandy reduction, and is then left to simmer. For the sake of restatement, a lot of things happen to a lot of people. To facilitate the pace, most of the characters are painted in broad strokes. Lok is sensible. Big D is extravagant, and so on. So when the plot hits the fan, although the logistics are admirable, it’s more like looking at a bunch of shiny balls bouncing around in a kid’s toy than actual human drama.
That being said, there are a couple of standout set-pieces involving some torture via plummeting box, some unexpected murders, and a wonderfully bleak closer. When fast-forwarding through the film to grab some screen caps, the experience was much preferable. I was free to admire the carefully crafted camera work as well as the structure of the film without have to sit through the film.
On your left.
If this all sounds a little vague, it’s because Election doesn’t leave a whole lot to grab onto except a standard mafia plot, a few memorable moments, and a general sense of craftsmanship. Tarantino apparently thought this was the best movie of the year according to the cover. I would be very interested to hear why he thought so. Likewise, call me out if you love this flick, because a lot of people seem to.
The Package
We get a very speedy making of doc and a batch of interviews. The interviews are actually fairly in depth and help make up for the lack of commentary. Most interesting is Johnnie Toe’s reasoning for the more placid approach than his earlier Breaking News, which is that he’s afraid of imitating Scorsese (sure hasn’t scared multiple generations).
One quibble is that they play the same music over a titlecard every time the interviewer asks a question, which begins to suggest that the interview has a loading screen.
