PTU. (15.)
Directed by Johnny To. 2003.
Starring Simon Yam, Lam Suet, Maggie Shiu, Ruby Wong and Raymond Wong. Out on Blu-ray from June 21st on Eureka Masters of Cinema. 88 mins.
I always thought of Hong Kong as a city that never sleeps but not in this Johnny To's thriller. The action takes place over the course of a single night, during which the streets of downtown Kowloon are totally deserted apart from various police units and assorted villains, none of whom are up to any good. After fat, sweaty detective Lam Suet loses his gun he involves a PTU unit led by Simon Yam to help him get it back. Their quest to recover it starts a wee small hours criss-cross of coincidences and chance encounters that resembles a kind street lamp farce.
Of course, these days what keeps Hong Kongers awake is likely to be something way more sinister. Chilling as the mainland's crackdown is, PTU reminds us that HK law enforcement has always had a brutal side. Created by the British, the title stands for Police Tactical Unit, but with their blue berets and grey uniforms, they look more like an invading military enforcing a curfew than bobbies on the beat. They are a reminder that British rule wasn't exactly a carefree time, and the film is a study in casual cynicism and lazily entrenched corruption.
Eureka's release of Johnny To's Throw Down was one of my highlights of last year. So much so that in the review I got a wee bit carried away and suggested that he was vastly superior to HK's most famous cinema exports Wong Kar Wai and John Woo. Ok, the Criterion World of Wong Kar Wai collection has rather made that statement, or at least half of it, look a little silly but there is a casual mastery in PTU that is sublimely enjoyable.
Take the early scene in a restaurant, where a poor young bloke in a Hawaiian shirt trying to eat some noodles gets moved from table to table to accommodate first a group of hoodlums and then Fatty, as Suet's cop is generally referred to. There is a bit of business with all the three major characters in the scene having the same ringtone and each of them having to check their phone whenever one of them receives a call. It's beautifully done and topped off with an out of nowhere ending in which ….(spoiler redacted)..... that is then double topped by another bizarre, unexpected development.
This is the film's best sequence but To always finds an angle or twist to give something extra to standard action sequences. The film looks great as well, but without being showy. The lighting for Cheng Siu Keung's cinematography is clean and clear with defined areas of light and dark for the characters to move in and out. Very film noir; and not in the least bit film noir.
The plot isn't always the easiest to follow partly because there are at least four different law enforcement agencies and four different criminal enterprises involved, and each is engaged in a turf war with its opponents. Because the plot is propelled by a series of chance encounters and coincidences, the subtitled viewer will probably never be quite sure if a plot development is random, or if it relates back to an earlier plot point they did not picked up on. By the end though I think most viewers will be on the same page.
There are some great performances. Lam Suet is a marvellous screen presence, all open pores and perspiring anxiety, a picture of ill health. As the leader of the PTU unit, Simon Yam dominates the film. Something about the way he wears that uniform, especially the blue beret, makes him look like a stiff upper lip British screen actor from the 40s/50s. You can quite image him standing on a British frigate in a WWII film, on deck alongside Trevor Howard, Harry Andrew, Anthony Quayle and the like. There's a righteous fortitude to him, a fierce sense of duty and loyalty, neither of which stops him being a brutal, overbearing bent copper.
The film has a sweeping light touch cynicism. Everybody is looking out for themselves, everybody is playing the system and most of them are capable of extreme brutality in the pursuit of their goals but the film treats their machinations like they were children playing games and there is something enormously satisfying when everything falls into place at the end.
Special features.
Directed by Johnny To. 2003.
Starring Simon Yam, Lam Suet, Maggie Shiu, Ruby Wong and Raymond Wong. Out on Blu-ray from June 21st on Eureka Masters of Cinema. 88 mins.
I always thought of Hong Kong as a city that never sleeps but not in this Johnny To's thriller. The action takes place over the course of a single night, during which the streets of downtown Kowloon are totally deserted apart from various police units and assorted villains, none of whom are up to any good. After fat, sweaty detective Lam Suet loses his gun he involves a PTU unit led by Simon Yam to help him get it back. Their quest to recover it starts a wee small hours criss-cross of coincidences and chance encounters that resembles a kind street lamp farce.
Of course, these days what keeps Hong Kongers awake is likely to be something way more sinister. Chilling as the mainland's crackdown is, PTU reminds us that HK law enforcement has always had a brutal side. Created by the British, the title stands for Police Tactical Unit, but with their blue berets and grey uniforms, they look more like an invading military enforcing a curfew than bobbies on the beat. They are a reminder that British rule wasn't exactly a carefree time, and the film is a study in casual cynicism and lazily entrenched corruption.
Eureka's release of Johnny To's Throw Down was one of my highlights of last year. So much so that in the review I got a wee bit carried away and suggested that he was vastly superior to HK's most famous cinema exports Wong Kar Wai and John Woo. Ok, the Criterion World of Wong Kar Wai collection has rather made that statement, or at least half of it, look a little silly but there is a casual mastery in PTU that is sublimely enjoyable.
Take the early scene in a restaurant, where a poor young bloke in a Hawaiian shirt trying to eat some noodles gets moved from table to table to accommodate first a group of hoodlums and then Fatty, as Suet's cop is generally referred to. There is a bit of business with all the three major characters in the scene having the same ringtone and each of them having to check their phone whenever one of them receives a call. It's beautifully done and topped off with an out of nowhere ending in which ….(spoiler redacted)..... that is then double topped by another bizarre, unexpected development.
This is the film's best sequence but To always finds an angle or twist to give something extra to standard action sequences. The film looks great as well, but without being showy. The lighting for Cheng Siu Keung's cinematography is clean and clear with defined areas of light and dark for the characters to move in and out. Very film noir; and not in the least bit film noir.
The plot isn't always the easiest to follow partly because there are at least four different law enforcement agencies and four different criminal enterprises involved, and each is engaged in a turf war with its opponents. Because the plot is propelled by a series of chance encounters and coincidences, the subtitled viewer will probably never be quite sure if a plot development is random, or if it relates back to an earlier plot point they did not picked up on. By the end though I think most viewers will be on the same page.
There are some great performances. Lam Suet is a marvellous screen presence, all open pores and perspiring anxiety, a picture of ill health. As the leader of the PTU unit, Simon Yam dominates the film. Something about the way he wears that uniform, especially the blue beret, makes him look like a stiff upper lip British screen actor from the 40s/50s. You can quite image him standing on a British frigate in a WWII film, on deck alongside Trevor Howard, Harry Andrew, Anthony Quayle and the like. There's a righteous fortitude to him, a fierce sense of duty and loyalty, neither of which stops him being a brutal, overbearing bent copper.
The film has a sweeping light touch cynicism. Everybody is looking out for themselves, everybody is playing the system and most of them are capable of extreme brutality in the pursuit of their goals but the film treats their machinations like they were children playing games and there is something enormously satisfying when everything falls into place at the end.
Special features.
- Limited Edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju)
- Cantonese audio (DTS-HD MA 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 options)
- Optional English dubbed audio
- Optional English Subtitles and English SDH
- Brand new feature-length audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
- Archival interview with director Johnnie To
- Archival interview with actor Simon Yam
- Archival interview with actress Maggie Siu
- Trailers
- A collector’s booklet featuring new writing by David West (NEO Magazine)
