To count the phoenix in the Hong Kong film industry, I believe Wong Jing is definitely one of the stalwarts. From the 1980s to the decline of the film industry, he still maintained a strong vitality and continued to make movies. In the past, he was one of the few producers and directors, who are still attractive to investors and bosses, have produced many small and medium-budget films in order to keep the film circle operating, and regard them as mainly gangster films, ranging from "Colour of the Truth" (2003), "Colour of the Loyalty" (2005) to "To Live and Die in Mongkok" (2009), he kept responding to other similar Hong Kong-films. This time, "To Live and Die in Mongkok" selected Nick Cheung Ka-Fai, who won multiple Best Actor Awards last year, as well as Best Actress Paw Hee-Ching, Best Supporting Actor and Actress Liu Kai-Chi and Chan Lai-Wun. This "golden" combination, bringing together the cast of "The Way We Are" (2008) and "Beast Stalker" (2008).
"To Live and Die in Mongkok" remind people of many gangster films named after the region in the 1980s and 1990s. This time Wong Jing wrote the role of Nick Cheung as a schizophrenic, which is obviously from "Fight Club" (1999) starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Fai (played by Nick Cheung), who became kind after being imprisoned, and himself 30 years ago, in order to fight for the upper position, at that time to eliminate traitors for the gang, behead more than 20 people, two characters with completely different personalities. Shortly before the opening of the film, the mystery of Chan Lai-Wun's visit to the prison has been exposed. Since "Fight Club", this kind of treatment is no longer new. Wong Jing exposed the "mystery" so quickly, which is also a smart way. However, Wong Jing has often tried to highlight these ideas and scenes that he thinks will attract the audience or the boss. The arrangement can easily make the audience feel that it is nothing more than this. From the cold reaction of the box office and the comments during the release of the film, it can be seen that the four acting actors are put together, and some roles are designed for them. The title of the film with local awareness and the gimmick handling of the schizophrenic gang are all calculated by Wong Jing's production, but the surprising part of this film is not these appearance skills, but the film inadvertently reveal his views on society, gangsters, the film industry, etc. Rewriting "Fight Club" into "To Live and Die in Mongkok" reminds me of Wong Jing's classic "God of Gamblers" (1989), and turning the brothers in "Rain Man" (1988) into a mentor and apprentice suffering from short-term amnesia is really amazing. Unfortunately, "To Live and Die in Mongkok" is not so wonderfully rewritten, but in dealing with the gang struggle and Nick Cheung's legendary hero and schizophrenia, the wandering in realism and comic treatment is in the right direction to a certain extent, how much of this should be attributed to another director Chung Siu-Hung is unknown.
The performance of the four acting actors basically met the needs of the film, but they were not outstanding, especially the relatively slow moving Chan Lai-Wun, asking her to play the well-known political figure, social worker Sister Han (Chan Yuen-Han), was not an appropriate candidate. On the contrary, Paw Hee-Ching and Liu Kai-Chi, who are used to acting in Wong Jing's films, fully understand Wong Jing's needs and cooperation, in addition to stealing the scene, other actors also have a role to play, such as two Mainland actresses Monica Mok Siu-Kei and Natalie Meng Yao; and Nick Cheung and Tang Tak-Po, who plays young Fai in fantasy (playing the young actor of the gangster in Lawrence Ah Mon's "Besieged City" (2008)), as well as the cooperation between Leung Chun-Lung and Wai Ka-Hung, all cooperated with them appropriately and produced chemical effects, in particular Tang Tak-Po, who is "like a shadow", has a good performance. In addition, in recent films, Wong Jing has always acted in rhetoric, and his role in "To Live and Die in Mongkok" has even more ulterior motives. There is a less obvious overtone to the situation of Hong Kong Cinema and the differences among filmmakers.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)
"To Live and Die in Mongkok" remind people of many gangster films named after the region in the 1980s and 1990s. This time Wong Jing wrote the role of Nick Cheung as a schizophrenic, which is obviously from "Fight Club" (1999) starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Fai (played by Nick Cheung), who became kind after being imprisoned, and himself 30 years ago, in order to fight for the upper position, at that time to eliminate traitors for the gang, behead more than 20 people, two characters with completely different personalities. Shortly before the opening of the film, the mystery of Chan Lai-Wun's visit to the prison has been exposed. Since "Fight Club", this kind of treatment is no longer new. Wong Jing exposed the "mystery" so quickly, which is also a smart way. However, Wong Jing has often tried to highlight these ideas and scenes that he thinks will attract the audience or the boss. The arrangement can easily make the audience feel that it is nothing more than this. From the cold reaction of the box office and the comments during the release of the film, it can be seen that the four acting actors are put together, and some roles are designed for them. The title of the film with local awareness and the gimmick handling of the schizophrenic gang are all calculated by Wong Jing's production, but the surprising part of this film is not these appearance skills, but the film inadvertently reveal his views on society, gangsters, the film industry, etc. Rewriting "Fight Club" into "To Live and Die in Mongkok" reminds me of Wong Jing's classic "God of Gamblers" (1989), and turning the brothers in "Rain Man" (1988) into a mentor and apprentice suffering from short-term amnesia is really amazing. Unfortunately, "To Live and Die in Mongkok" is not so wonderfully rewritten, but in dealing with the gang struggle and Nick Cheung's legendary hero and schizophrenia, the wandering in realism and comic treatment is in the right direction to a certain extent, how much of this should be attributed to another director Chung Siu-Hung is unknown.
The performance of the four acting actors basically met the needs of the film, but they were not outstanding, especially the relatively slow moving Chan Lai-Wun, asking her to play the well-known political figure, social worker Sister Han (Chan Yuen-Han), was not an appropriate candidate. On the contrary, Paw Hee-Ching and Liu Kai-Chi, who are used to acting in Wong Jing's films, fully understand Wong Jing's needs and cooperation, in addition to stealing the scene, other actors also have a role to play, such as two Mainland actresses Monica Mok Siu-Kei and Natalie Meng Yao; and Nick Cheung and Tang Tak-Po, who plays young Fai in fantasy (playing the young actor of the gangster in Lawrence Ah Mon's "Besieged City" (2008)), as well as the cooperation between Leung Chun-Lung and Wai Ka-Hung, all cooperated with them appropriately and produced chemical effects, in particular Tang Tak-Po, who is "like a shadow", has a good performance. In addition, in recent films, Wong Jing has always acted in rhetoric, and his role in "To Live and Die in Mongkok" has even more ulterior motives. There is a less obvious overtone to the situation of Hong Kong Cinema and the differences among filmmakers.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)
