“One Nite in Mongkok” and “University of Laughs”

Posted to www.marxmail.org on January 4, 2006

Over the last few days, I have been watching some screeners that have been sitting around on my shelves for the past couple of years or so. Six of them date from the 2005 Asian Film Festival in NYC, of which four are not worthy of comment. The remaining two are something special. Although they were never shown outside of their native countries and will not likely be released on DVD/VHS, each in their own way stretches the boundaries of film.

*****

In 2004 the Hong Kong Film Award committee honored Derek Yee as best director and screenplay writer for his “One Nite in Mongkok,” a ‘policier’ that marks a radical departure from genre conventions. Hong Kong cop films started out as a kind of spin-off from martial arts films (wu xia) set in ancient China. Instead of a sword-wielding kung fu expert defending the honor of his monastery, you get saintly super-cops who go out and battle evil criminal gangs that often far outnumber them. Jackie Chan’s “Police Story” is a perfect example of this.

Very early this morning (jet lag will do this to you), I watched “Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong,” a one hour documentary on the IFC cable channel (don’t go to their theater in NYC--they use non-union projectionists.) It revealed how important creative innovation is to the directors and actors in this field. They are always experimenting with cinematography, martial arts techniques, characterization, etc. In his interview, Jackie Chan said that he could not be another Bruce Lee, even if he was being marketed in this fashion. He had to develop his own profile, which turned out to combine martial arts and slapstick. I also learned that the Japanese Zatoichi blind swordsmen series had an enormous impact on Hong Kong film-makers. After seeing Zatoichi films, they felt the need to improve their cinematography, plots, etc.

“One Nite in Mongkok” represents a breakthrough very much in this tradition. To my knowledge, it is very first cop film out of Hong Kong in which the main character, a hit-man named Lai Fu (Daniel Wu), has absolutely no experience in the profession and has never even killed anybody in his life.

Lai Fu has been recruited to whack a gangster who son has killed the son of a rival gangster. He is doing it only for the money. He is from a desperately poor village in rural China and will do anything to keep himself and his relatives afloat. Shortly after setting himself up in a fleabag hotel in Mongkok, he hears a disturbance in the hallway. A pimp is beating up a prostitute named Dan Dan (Cecilia Cheung) and Lai Fu comes to the rescue, the only act in this film that is remotely heroic. Like Lai Fu, Dan Dan has been forced by economic circumstance to venture forth from her rural village in China, not far from his. Throughout the film, La Fu distinguishes himself by one selfless act after another, including giving away the money he has received in payment for the contract killing. Indeed, compared to the Hong Kong cops who are pursuing him, Lai Fu is practically saintly.

When the cops have learned about the impending hit, they go to all lengths to catch the hit-man beforehand. This includes bursting into a hotel room and shooting a man that they have mistaken for Lai Fu. When they discover their mistake, they plan to do what cops always do in such circumstances and plant a gun or knife that they have reserved just for such occasions in his hand. When they discover that the dead man is a major drug dealer, they are relieved to find that there is no need to fabricate evidence. Such being the state of Hong Kong justice that cops are entitled to serve as jury and executioner, one supposes.

But the film is not mainly about combat. It is mainly about the relationship between Dan Dan and Lai Fu, who she regards as her deliverer. She trails him about the Mongkok district like a puppy dog giving him advice and offering him her body, which he declines. He is in Hong Kong to kill the gangster but also to find his long-lost love Susan who just by coincidence (this is one aspect of the film that is traditionally Hong Kong) was with his rival gangster’s son at the time of his murder.

Dan Dan is one of the more memorable female characters I have encountered in Hong Kong films in recent years. She is a bundle of contradictions, admiring Lai Fu for his virtuousness but scheming how to separate him from his money. She refers to him constantly as “My dear”, but the net effect is the same as hearing Fagin addressing Oliver Twist.

But perhaps the main attraction of this film is Mongkok itself. This is a teeming city within a city that is among the most densely populated area on earth and that is home to youth gangs, street hustlers, prostitutes, drug dealers as well as ordinary working people trying to make a living. Within these lower depths, Derek Yee is a perfect guide.

*****

“University of Laughs” is unlike any movie I have ever seen, except perhaps for “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” There are only two speaking roles and it takes place almost entirely within a single sparely furnished room, but within that room all sorts of theatrical miracles take place. Based on the stage play of Koki Mitani, who is sort of a Japanese version of Neil Simon), it is a confrontation between art and political repression that is truly inspirational.

The film is set in WWII Japan and pits Yakusho (Koji Yakusho), a middle-aged government censor, against the youthful comic playwright Tsubaki (Goro Inagaki) who must pass one hurdle after another before a production of his “Jomeo and Ruliet” can be mounted.

The first change dictated by Yakusho is to transpose the comedy to Japan since the author of the play that Tsubaki is adapting is an Englishman. When Tsubaki protests that the characters are from Italy, Japan’s ally, it is to no avail. He is ordered to rewrite the play within 24 hours and return to the censor’s office. When he does with the completed product, he learns that he must find some way to interject the line “the future of our country is at stake” three times into the script. Tsubaki, who is always trying to find ways to retain the farcical character of his work, tries unsuccessfully to sneak “the future of our country is at steak” past the censor.

As Yakusho gets more and more involved with rewriting the script to conform to imperial standards, he slowly begins to take a proprietary interest in the play and makes suggestions how to improve it. The transition is made all the more plausible as the two characters act out the various scenes. Koji Yakusho’s performance as the censor is tremendous. Yakusho is one of Japan’s most popular actors. He starred in “The Eel,” a film that I reviewed at http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/culture/The_Eel.htm, and appears in the new film “Memoirs of a Geisha.”