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Jiang Hu - The Triad Zone
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Roy Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Chan Fai-Hung in Jiang Hu - The Triad Zone
Chinese: 江湖告急  
Year: 2000  
Director: Dante Lam Chiu-Yin  
Writer: Chan Hing-Kai, Amy Chin Siu-Wai  
Cast: Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Sandra Ng Kwun-Yu, Roy Cheung Yiu-Yeung, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Chan Fai-Hung, Samuel Pang King-Chi, Jo Koo, Lee San-San, Eason Chan Yik-Shun, Siu Lung, Ng Doi-Yung, Richard Ng Yiu-Hon, Lee Lik-Chee, Law Lan, Chapman To Man-Chat, Lam Chi-Sin, Carl Ng Ka-Lung
The Skinny: Ambitious, entertaining triad comedy that tries a bit too much, but we should all be grateful for its efforts. Tony Leung Ka-Fai leads an excellent cast in this offbeat genre exercise.
 
Review
by Kozo:

Dante Lam returns to Beast Cops territory with this bizarre gangster comedy that goes much further than that film ever did. Tony Leung Ka-Fai is triad kingpin Fai, who learns that a contract has been taken out on his head and in 24 hours his time will be up. He spends that time looking at the world around him and evaluating his relationships, including those with his wife (Sandra Ng), bodyguard (Roy Cheung), and mistress (Lee San-San).

Along the way there are some wildly hilarious moments as well as some genuinely surprising ones. This treatise of the Triad Underworld is by turns enthralling, entertaining, affecting, and maddeningly uneven. Head writer Chan Hing-Kai and director Lam work overtime to make the film chock-full of quirky comments and biting satire on the life of the triad. The strength of the film comes from this overly postmodern storytelling, but that can be a weakness, too. Quirkiness for its own sake can be too much.

However, this is still a good, ambitious movie, but it might be a bit too esoteric and inconclusive for the casual viewer. Jiang Hu works best as a sum of parts rather than as a whole. Overall, the movie is a bit too obvious in its desire to examine and deconstruct the triad world, though it can be very entertaining watching it try. The acting is superb, though. Leung, Sandra Ng and Roy Cheung all turn in superlative work, lending depth and character to Lam's quirky triad fable. (Kozo 2000)

 
Awards: 20th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards
• Nomination - Best Picture
• Nomination - Best Actor (Tony Leung Ka-Fai)
• Nomination - Best Supporting Actor (Roy Cheung Yiu-Yeung)
• Nomination - Best Screenplay (Chan Hing-Kai, Amy Chin Siu-Wai)
7th Annual Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards

• Best Screenplay (Chan Hing-Kai, Amy Chin Siu-Wai)
• Recommended Film
Availability: DVD (Hong Kong)
Region 0 NTSC
Mei Ah Laser
Widescreen
Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks
Dolby Digital 5.1
Removable English and Chinese Subtitles
*Also Available on Blu-ray Disc
Find this at YesAsia.com
 
image courtesy of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society
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