Two young drifters decide to rob a bank. Of course, things don’t turn out as planned and of course this reminds us of Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon. But this is only the starting point of a film where the huis clos diverges from the expected action to trap a microcosm of Hong Kong society soon to be stripped bare: a dangerous and highly sentimental wanted criminal (Ti Lung), a Pakistani security guard (worried about the upcoming hand-over of Hong Kong), a mother and daughter totally at odds, etc. As for the police, there is of course the good cop (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and bad cop (Paul Chun) but neither prove themselves capable of sorting out the situation. A really bad time. JB
SCREENINGS
KATORZA
MON 18 > 10:30 am, in the presence of Clarence Tsui, journalist, critic in Hong Kong and co-programmer of the Derek Yee retrospective.
WED 20 > 6:30 pm, in the presence of Clarence Tsui.
