Election

Election is a Chinese mob movie, or triads in this case. Every two years an election is held to decide on a new leader, and at first it seems a toss up between Big D (Tony Leung Ka Fai, or as I know him, "The Other Tony Leung") and Lok (Simon Yam, who was Judge in Full Contact!). Though once Lok wins, Big D refuses to accept the choice and goes to whatever lengths he can to secure recognition as the new leader. Unlike any other Asian film I watch featuring gangsters, this one is not an action movie. It has its bloody moments, when necessary, as in Goodfellas, but it's basically just a really effective drama. There are a lot of characters, which is really hard to keep track of, but I think that plays into the craziness of it all a bit. A 100-year-old baton, which is the symbol of power I mentioned before, changes hands several times before things settle down. And though it may appear that the film ends at the 65 or 70-minute mark, there are still a couple big surprises waiting. Simon Yam was my favorite character here and sort of anchors the picture. Election was quite the award winner at last year's Hong Kong Film Awards, winning for best actor (Tony Leung), best picture, best director (Johnny To, who did Heroic Trio!!), and best screenplay. It also had nominations for cinematography, editing, film score (which I loved), and three more acting performances (including Yam).

"Election" is a confusing gangster movie with a story that really shouldn't make so little sense. The plot is that there is a dispute over who should head a Hongkongese Triad. The more even-tempered Lok is elected, much to the anger of his rival, the disrespectful and hot-headed Big D. The Triad chairman must own a dragon head-carved baton. This is a symbol of his power. Much of the movie involves the hunt for this baton. The movie has quite a few scenes that make no sense. Eg., when Lok is elected, we are given a shot of men being nailed into wooden cages and kicked down a hillside. I had to read on Wikipedia to find out that this was their punishment for helping Lok become chairmen - though I still don't know how they could have done that. In another scene, Big D is handcuffed on the street with some other gangsters and starts imploring passersby to take photos. He then notices a rival triad, and starts frantically trying to stop the people from taking photos. Then he changes his mind again. What was the reasoning behind this? The baton thing is also confusing. I understood that it was a symbol of power, but could't keep track of who had it and when. I will say, though, that the ending is really shocking. I was not expecting it at all, and I think it was intended that way.