Chinese Crime: Cock and Bull, Z-Storm, and S-Storm

There's "I'm going to try and see four movies on Sunday" and there's "I'm going to do a double-double feature, with the latter being much more rare - it's not only not necessarily easy to find two movies that go together playing at the same place, but when you do, they're often scheduled to make a double feature difficult, because AMC does not want you to actually use that free refill on the large soda while seeing a second movie, and they don't figure on you visiting the concession stand twice in one afternoon/evening. They want you making two trips on separate days.

And while their two Chinese movies this week were scheduled so that an evening double feature would mean waiting around for an hour, they actually lined up pretty well in the early afternoon. So that's how Cock and Bull and S Storm wound up being the front half of the double-double. Not that they necessarily made it easy:



Neither Sand Storm nor Tristram Shandy, a Cock & Bull Story were playing there that day, and while I imagine most people could figure it out easy enough, I do idly wonder if any of the folks in nearby Chinatown who don't necessarily speak English as a first language might have had issues, especially since I didn't see anyone actually manning the box office when I got in, which has to kind of sink for people who want to pay with cash as well.

At least it's getting easier to catch up on the originals before these Chinese sequels come out, as I was able to rent Z Storm via Amazon Friday night. It was after getting back from a Red Sox game, so I was kind of worn out by the time I started it at almost midnight, but think of how useful that would have been if there had been any sort of strong continuity between the two films, rather than one actress showing up as a different character and what looked like a recurring nemesis completely forgotten.

Anyway, they wound up being a fun pairing, and then I headed up the Red Line to see Disney's Sleeping Beauty and Tron as part of the Somerville Theatre's 70mm/Widescreen Festival. As I post this, it's still got a couple of days, so give it a shot if you haven't been yet; most of these prints look gorgeous, and as much as I appreciate digital projection for things like making it a lot easier to show Chinese movies near-simultaneously with their debut in their native land, there's nothing like film.

Zhui xiong zhe ye (Cock and Bull)

* * * (out of four)
Seen 18 September 2016 in AMC Boston Common #6 (first-run, DCP)

I'm not one to demand perfect accuracy on a movie poster or video box, but the one for Cock and Bull that featured one of the characters brandishing a great big squirt gun in contrast to the more realistic weapons of the others really does the film a bit of a disservice. Not only does this never actually happen, but it gives the impression of a zanier, more absurd movie, and that sort of thing never appearing may disappoint those who might otherwise like this sort of twisty, darkly comedic crime story.

It starts out conventionally enough: Brother Cat, a gypsy cabbie in rural China, has been murdered, and widow Ma Xiao Lan has wasted no time in pointing a finger at Song Lao-er (Liu Ye), a mechanic who has fought with Cat on occasion, leading him to point out that last fight involved her affairs. Tagged as the prime suspect, Song hunts down Cat's distinctively-repaired motorcycle, a trail that will lead to Wang Youquan (Duan Bowen), a young man intending to move to Guangzhou with girlfriend Yang Shuha (Wang Ziwen), and Dong Xiaofeng (Zhang Yi), a small-time criminal working at the Victoria nightclub. With none exactly matter criminals or sleuths, untangling (or getting away with) this crime could be pretty tricky.

Writer/Director Cao Baopin chooses to complicate things a bit by breaking the film into chapters, switching the primary point of view as each chapter is named for a different crime-story archetype, and it's kind of a relief that he opts not to show off how cool and nonlinear his storytelling is: There's no hacky rewind effect, and despite there being four chapters, he only really jumps back and shows a large chunk of the story from a different character's perspective once; the other times he'll do a quick catch-up and mostly move forward from where he'd previously left off, just with the focus on someone else. It makes watching the movie less of an obvious game of spring connections and more of an actual mystery for much of the early going (and even when the audience knows what happened, the motive and how things will shake out holds its curiosity), although Cao is a bit clumsy with it at a couple of points, most notably when ending one act with a cliffhanger-like event that is immediately undercut.

Full review on EFC.

Z Feng Bao (Z Storm)

* * (out of four)
Seen 16/17 September 2016 in Jay's Newest Living Room (catch-up, Amazon Video)

It surprises me a bit that Z Storm did well enough in Hong Kong to merit a sequel; though as sleek a crime movie as they come with a decent idea at the core, it's roughly as dull as investigating bribery sounds, the sort of movie that spends more time making sure the viewer recognizes an agency's mission as important than making the case exciting.

It starts off with an entertaining bit of sleight of hand, though, as a team from the HKPD's Commercial Crime Bureau led by Wong Man-bin (Gordon Lam Ka-tung) makes a high-profile arrest of Law Tak-wing (Lo Hoi-pang), Hong Kong's "Godfather of Accounting" - only to have Wong offer to make it all go away. That's when Wong's abused wife and original informer Chang Chi-Chou (Joe Cheung Tung-cho) bring their case to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, where William Luk (Louis Koo Tin-lok) leads the team trying to find the connection between Law and Wong. It appears to be Malcolm Wu (Michael Wong Man-tak), the front man for the mysterious Mr. Zoro and the "Z Fund", which offers returns so good the the HKSAR is about to invest in it directly.

As much as the corruption and economic crimes like those at the center of Z Storm are at the root of more problems than the more conventionally violent transgressions, they can be tough things to build an entertaining film around; Johnnie To has done it a few times, but look at how things like The Big Short have to go off on stylistic tangents to get the information in. For the most part, writer Wong Ho-wa and director David Lam Tak-luk keep things on a relatively high level, but that means that they're not diving into what makes their movie different from other crime dramas, from the forensic investigations to how ICAC necessarily comes into conflict with other law enforcement agencies, or even sensationalizing it enough to get a good pulp story out of it.

Full review on EFC.

Z Feng Bao II (S Storm)

* * ¾ (out of four)
Seen 18 September 2016 in AMC Boston Common #12 (first-run, DCP)

If you've seen Z Storm, the opening title sequence of this sequel will immediately inform you that the scales have gone down a great deal - where the last one sketched out all of Hong Kong as being under the Independent Commission Against Corruption's watch, this one illustrates a soccer game. And while scaling back is generally not a great sign for sequels, it's the best thing for S Storm; it frees filmmaker David Lam up to make a more action-packed, entertaining movie.

Though the ICAC usually handles government corruption, all kinds of bribery fall under their purview, including accusations against Tang Siu-hung (Terence Yin), who works at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, one of the world's largest sports books. ICAC investigator William Luk (Louis Koo Tin-lok) brings in old friend and Jockey Club expert Wong Mai-ling (Ada Choi Siu-fan) to consult on the case, but before they can make much headway, Tang becomes the problem of detective Lau Po-keung (Julian Cheung Chi-lam). Their investigations clash with each other and the internal one being conducted by JC's Terry Lun (Bowie Lam Bo-yi), and the trail of an assassin (Vic Chou Yu-min) crosses with Ebby Lau (Dada Chan Ching), a sports-bar waitress with a grudge against gamblers.

Not exactly a diabolical plan that would bankrupt the entire HKSAR if it's not stopped, but it at least offers up some immediate danger, and creates situations where people are in conflict even when the assassin isn't shooting someone at the moment: The ICAC and HKPD teams sometimes have a hard time working together, Po-keung is considered a lazy underachiever, which means being on his team is stalling careers, and though Terry was William's and Mai-ling's mentor, his sense of duty is pulled between the government investigation and his employers at the Jockey Club. Things that start off as side plots (like a social-media celebrity who passes herself off as the philanthropic representative of a large corporation) feed into the main story but at least add a little color on the way.

Full review on EFC.