Why the fuck am I being so indecisive on this whole vacation thing? Seems like Bintan ain’t gonna be what I want, or only partly so, and do I really wanna go to Singapore for a few days just cause I like a bookstore and the food there? There are worse reasons to go somewhere, I suppose. The alternative now seems to be Thailand – a few days Bangkok, a few days elsewhere – I do have an idea for a new tattoo, might have mentioned that before.

Last night watched a movie worth recommending somewhat – Exiled. Directed by Johnny To, it stars one of my HK faves, Anthony Wong Chau-sang, and a few others I like – Francis Ng, Roy Cheung, Simon Yam. Josie Ho looks properly bedraggled as Ho’s wife and also nice to see Ellen Chan (and one of her breasts) looking great in the role of Hooker. It was nominated for a Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.

I was a bit nervous at the start because the opening credits didn’t include one for a writer. At the end, screenplay was credited to two writers plus “Milkyway Creative Team.” Movies written by committee are never a good idea, and Exiled has its share of lapses and poor logic, as one might well expect.

It’s set in Macau in 1998, just prior to the handover. But you won’t see any casinos or nightclubs here. This is a very different, back streets kind of Macau. As the story opens, two hitmen from Hong Kong knock on a door, looking for a guy named Wo. Then another two hitmen show up, in order to keep the first two from killing Wo. And then Wo shows up. In typical HK movie logic, it turns out that all 5 are childhood friends.

Simply put, the opening 20 minutes is almost pure Sergio Leone, which is not a bad thing. When the action starts, you’ll see elements of John Woo and Ringo Lam and the end borrows in many ways from the Wild Bunch. To has breathlessly winked at, cited, homaged, borrowed and stolen from so many directors that the more you know about cinema, the more you’ll love it.

I suppose it would be worth spending a bit of time on the political implications here – setting this in Macau in ’98, characters who for various reasons have left Hong Kong. But I’m feeling lazy, haven’t done that. The film is rated Category III, presumably because of its depiction of triad activities, lots of violence (most of the blood is CGI) and a brief flash of nudity.

Well, that’s it, gonna head out, do a spot of shopping, walking, usual Saturday crap.

Hongkie Town
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