Touches You

The Worst Film Ever

Beautiful, moving film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

To be almost have it but not. To almost know the complete picture but still missing some pieces. To fear but you must go on. Don't we know this is the way most of us experience life?You can get frustrated by some of the more nuance Johonnie To films. They may not be about the ends but the means. They may not be about plot lines but plot circles. And PTU is about as round as you get. But notice the cool eating places, the explicit and yet natural lighting, the play of light and shadows. It is a poem more than a story, almost.Maybe it is not important who lost what or who gain what in the this one single night within the movie, but drink in the atmosphere, walk with the people of the night, see their world, worries their worries, and live another life!

Johnny To is turning into a real favorite of mine. After praising Mad Detective and Sparrow earlier, now it's time to rewind and take a look at a slightly older To film. PTU proved to be just as impressive as his successors.I try not to expect too much when I approach older films of a director as his trademark style might not be perfected yet. This is the point where PTU surprised me the most. It just breathes To and even though it is starting to age a little, you will hardly notice it when watching the film. To's trademark style is already fully present and already a real spectacle to behold.Do mind the marketing of the film though, as it is often presented as somewhat of an action flick. PTU is clearly not that. Even though there a few action scenes and one major stand off, the rest of the film is brooding and slow, playing on atmosphere and emotion. But if you've seen any other recent To flicks, you'll already know what I'm talking about.Visually PTU is a little gem. The lighting is exquisite as Hong Kong's nightly appearance is a collection of dark patches broken down by bright lights. To is constantly playing with the visuals, trying to create a ghostly and barren city which at the same time steams and is ready to burst. Camera work is equally impressive as the camera floats and flies through its surroundings. To knows how to shoot film, that much is certain.The soundtrack is interesting (again a trademark To element) as it captures a certain atmosphere not often found in a film like this. Always a little off-key and uncommon, but To manages to make it work time after time. The film benefits from the score in several key scenes where the tension is built up to explode into a stylish climax. Good stuff alright.I guess most people will trip over the storyline, since PTU is pretty sparse when it comes to actual events. The setup is simple, as Lam's character loses his gun and Yam and his crew aid him in recapturing it. Things get out of hand and it all leads up to an impressive gathering of all parties involved (which are quite a few near the end). And even though the film boasts a very amusing ending the key is not within the main story arc but within the individual scenes themselves.To is one of those directors that can bring life to a scene. He dares to stretch them and brings audio and visuals together to build up tension and to develop a solid atmosphere. The storyline becomes nothing more than a hook and for those hungering for telltales to keep them occupied this could well be quite frustrating. Other film fans will appreciate To's magic and the way he applies it to turn each scene into something more than just a presentation of a storyline.PTU is first class film-making. Lam en Yam are good actors and know how to play their parts. The soundtrack is solid and the film is visually impressive. It even boasts a simple but fun and sufficiently developed storyline. But if that is what you care about the most, you will miss the real magic of To's film-making. 4.0*/5.0*

I'm convinced that much of film is reverberation from the phenomenon of noir. The key element of noir was a capricious fate that both played arbitrary havoc with lives and flavored the eye of the camera.I am not thoroughly steeped in Hong Kong work, but there seem to be three main communities: the deeply cinematic experimentalists led by Kar-wai, the stylistic ballet of Woo and company and the neo-noirists. Unfortunately, these can superficially appear similar in many respects. But I think here we have a clear case of the third.The game is dark. Everyone seems to think they are in charge, but no one is. Luck plays the key role and many coincidences appear. The camera eye is based on the long lens.I'm beginning to appreciate cinematographers who exploit either the long or short lens. I think it is impossible to do noir with a short lens because it is so obvious that the eye is within the space of action. But few noir films go so far, so long as this one.Forget the story, which is only to convey the accidents and lack of control (except for the central scene where one character tries to get another to rub a tattoo off his neck). And forget the characters; they are just tokens borrowed from other movies. Just revel in the philosophy here: why does a world exist where everything is a matter of chance, but you as the viewer always, always happen to be in the right place to see everything?Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

spoiler by innuendoP.T.U. (for Police Tactical Unit) is director Johnny To's much publicised recent work. Comparison with To's classic The Mission is almost inevitable. P.T.U., unfortunately, does not measure up. The main problem could be that To tried too hard, not unlike Zhang Yimou with Hero.While Zhang tried to dazzle his audience with an overwhelming visual kaleidoscope, To was indulged in an attempt to impress his with mental sleight of hand. Both failed. What To has done is to play with every scene like a sleight of hand, building up mounting tension and suspense, culminating in..........nothing. On might say that this is precisely the point, to show the absurdity of the entire situation, a much ado about nothing piece of satire. Even granting that, this sleight of hand thing is still far overdone.This assertion comes out more clearly by comparison with The Mission, which is To's best work to-date. In The Mission, To used a simple plot as his vehicle to do the things he wanted to do: the characters, their interaction, the visual form, the mise-en-scene. Amidst all that, he had time to squeeze in one of the most inspired scenes: the five body guards languidly kicking around a crumbled piece of paper made into a ball while waiting for the big boss.P.T.U. is not a complete disaster. The sleight of hand does capture some attention, at least at the begining. Lam Suet's portrayal of the rather down-to-earth and somewhat comical character does a lot to brighten up the film.The original score by Chung Chi-wing also deserves some credit. Chung, unless I am seriously mistaken, is the one quite well know among people familiar with the local live theatre scene, being credited with a couple of very respectable local musicals.