Deja Vu (Kin-Nam Cho, 1999)
The primary theme of
Deja Vu is fate. In the opening scene, this crazy clown lady sets up the movie through a magic act she is performing for some kids. She makes several appearances in the film, using her tricks to interject some pearls of wisdom about fate, love, luck, and the unpredictability of it all. After her introduction, we meet two young women, Vicky and Hung (cousins), in a shopping mall as they each have a chance encounter with different guys, Nicky and Peter respectively. When the scene ends, we see it a second time, but with a small change. The two women have swapped positions, so that their encounters end up pairing them against the opposite guys.
In the scenes that follow, it is shown how the story would go based on both of these possible starting points, essentially showing each scene twice. The not-so-subtle difference is that in one of the threads both couples end up working out (Vicky and Nicky, Hung and Peter), while in the other the couples don't get along at all and call it off before too long (Vicky and Peter, Hung and Nicky). I like the general idea used, but I think it could've been handled a little better. It works better once you have the big picture at the end, but watching it at the time I had some problems with how the different relationships were portrayed.
Once the couples in the second thread break it off, there's really nowhere left for it to go, so logically enough it ends, and the rest of the movie follows the 'successful' thread. Once again, it makes perfect sense thinking back on it, but at the time it felt strange that the structure was dropped barely half an hour in.
The characters are generally likable, but the pair pictured above is given a lot more to work with than the pair pictured below. Technically, there's not much to be impressed with, it's very rough around the edges. Many of the scenes are heavily tinted, and it's very artificial and not very attractive. The music and editing also has problems that are occasionally distracting. For some reason I still found the movie to have a certain charm to it.
Storywise, I'm a bit torn on it. The majority of it is pretty standard relationship drama fare, nothing great. The structure of the first act felt like more could have been done with it, but the way the story concludes plays off of it nicely, and genuninely made me appreciate the purpose of it. It makes a simple point, but it got me thinking about how and why things work out the way they do in life, so it must have done something right.
Credits roll...Unfortunately there's one downfall yet to come. Crazy clown lady is back! She
stops the credits for an epilouge-montage of the story where she lays out a complete explanation of the characters and why their relationships played out the way they did. Ugh! Completely unneccesary.
One of the more interesting examples of the dual-storyline technique. Also, more scenes needed actors playing kites.
Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 (Ka-Fai Wai, 1997)
The strangely named
Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 is a Hong Kong crime comedy, following a character named Kau and an assortment of fellow triads he falls in and out of company with.
The first thing worth talking about is the cinematography. Almost all of the movie is shot with a really wide angle lense, and it has a very distinct and unique style. It doesn't always work, especially in the first half some of it is really aggravating to watch. One action scene is shot upside down, until the cameraman apparently falls down a flight of stairs. But over the course of the movie it improved and grew on me, and some of the camera work is really cool and inventive.
Either by strange coincidence, or the mad genius that is pixote, this movie is also based around two diverging paths of the same story. When the movie starts, Kau gets involved with a group of small time criminals in a job to transport cars for a local clan boss. Due in part to a decision Kau makes, things go very wrong very fast, and he and his partners find themselves caught up in ever escalating chaos. Things don't end well.
Then we're back at the beginning again. We relive the first few scenes, but are shown different pieces of them which helps build the story and keep it from being repetitive. It's also pretty cool how there are a lot of repeated shots showing how things change this time. At the point where the first story took off, Kau makes a different decision and drastically changes the events to follow. The majority of the movies screentime is devoted to this second story. This time, Kau gets talked into partnering up with Matt (someone else from the first story who dropped out of the plan with Kau this time), who has taken a hit job. Once again, things keep escalating as they get caught up in ever more complex situations.
Oh yeah, so this is a comedy, mostly of a darkish nature, but I didn't get a lot of laughs out of it. It was more 'fun' than 'funny' with a lot of absurd and sometimes just stupid stuff happening, and at times it leans almost into parody. The first story is the movies biggest weakness, with a plot that's not that interesting, involving a lot of stupid stuff, and the worst offenses with the camera work. It also focuses more on the ensemble cast, but the group dynamic is never that good. In the second story Kau is clearly the star, and despite an odd role, he carries the movie much better.
Interesting camera work, crimelord brothers named Blackie and White, and a shootout in the dark. What's not to like?
VerdictI enjoyed both movies (better the second time!), but they both have their flaws, and neither of them are great. My second viewing of
Deja Vu almost changed my decision, but I still think
TMWTB No. 1 is the stronger movie. Sorry crazy clown lady!