Advertisement
Lau & Mak on the Infernal Affairs Trilogy
comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php
Source: Edward Douglas
October 8, 2004
Police and crime dramas have a rich history in Asian cinema, but few other films have had as big an impact on the continent as Infernal Affairs, a trilogy of films by directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak that sheds light on the never ending battle between the Hong Kong police and the Triad crime families using undercover moles planted to keep tabs on each other.
A huge hit in Asia, the first part of the trilogy has been in select theatres the past few weeks, but on Sunday, the New York Film Festival will show all three chapters of the trilogy at the Walter Reade Theatre. It will be the first time American audiences will have a chance to see the entire crime drama in theatres and get some idea of how the trilogy inspired director Martin Scorsese to develop an English language remake to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.
Directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak are an interesting team, the former a veteran who did cinematography for the Shaw Brothers Studios, the latter a promising young blood filmmaker. Their different sensibilities and backgrounds have allowed the two to create an interesting mix of classic storytelling with cutting edge filmmaking. Although they were busy working on their next film, they took some time to answer some questions we had about their groundbreaking trilogy.
Alan Mak began by explaining the appeal of police and crime dramas on Hong Kong cinema and their movies. "The Hong Kong movies are renowned for their action and cops-and-robbers genres, and there were indeed numerous films on undercover in the 1980s. But they're rarely seen in theatres nowadays, because the audience's preference has changed over the years, and romantic comedies are the local mainstream. You may say there's a degree of nostalgia in 'Infernal Affairs', but I believe what the audience love about the film is the new twists in the familiar genre, with a touch of Buddhism and unprecedented themes of choices, chivalry and mercy."
Director John Woo is clearly an influence on Infernal Affairs, but Mak told us that it actually was one of Woo's early American films that had the most impact. "My inspiration came from John Woo's 'Face Off' in 1997. I loved that story, but the notion of two people literally switching faces and still being alive was unsettling to me. So I began to develop a concept in which two characters wouldn't be superficially changing faces, but exchanging identities and even their personalities on a deeper subconscious level. The 'Infernal Affairs' script was completed at the beginning of 2002."
The premise of the trilogy may seem simple, but in actuality, it is a rich story full of complexities and depth that sometimes may require a scorecard. For the most part, it deals with the relationships between its four main characters:
Chan Wing Yan (Tony Leung) - As a police cadet, Yan was recruited by SP Wong to be an undercover cop within the Triad crime family, putting him directly under the big bosses. This allows him first-hand access to information about drug deals, which he passes onto Wong, the only one on the force who knows Yan's true allegiances. Yan never forgets that he's a police officer, despite being arrested and harassed by the cops for his criminal acts. His dual identity has messed him up to the point of needing psychological counseling.
Lau Kin Ming (Andy Lau) - Ming's connections to the Triad family were apparently overlooked when he became a police cadet at the age of 18, but hard work has quickly moved Ming up the ranks of the police force to the point where he is now a sergeant in the CIB (Criminal Intelligence Bureau). Like Yan, he's torn between doing his job as a police officer and keeping his loyalties to Sam. As Yan passes information onto Wong, Ming does the same for Sam.
SP Wong (Anthony Wong) - Yan's immediate supervisor and the only man on the force who knows that Yan is really a police officer acting as a mole for the department. He has his own ulterior motives for bringing down the Triads, and it often requires doing things outside of the law and behind the back of his commanding officer. Think of him as the Vic Mackie of Infernal Affairs.
Sam (Eric Tsang) - The current head of the Triad crime family. A portly unassuming man whose Buddhist beliefs tend to drive his actions, but his foresight into allying with Thai mob bosses to bring drugs into Hong Kong has made him a powerful and rich man. Once friends with Inspector Wong, their bitter battle has escalated to the point where their main motivations are to oust each other's moles.
Keung (Man-Chat To) - A bit player in the trilogy, Keung is a talkative small-time thug who offers most of the comic relief in the movies. He's also moved up the ranks in the Triad family, although he openly admits that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He works closely with Yan.
The first movie takes place in the present day, where the cat and mouse game between Sam and Wong has come to a head. They are hellbent on uncovering each other's moles planted in their organization. To make it more interesting, Yan and Ming have both been told by their respective bosses to find the mole, not knowing that they have encountered each other a number of times previously. This allows for many unexpected twists to keep the viewer on the edge, something that surely has added to its appeal.
Although sequels are imminent whenever a movie does well, Lau told us a bit about how their approach to sequels differed from the norm. "The common industry practice is to analyze the box office of the first film, and then greenlight the second film, and then the third. But this is not the way we treat our trilogy. We decided to do the two sequels back-to-back, because we're so confident about them. It's considered to be a milestone in Hong Kong cinema, a novel way of local film production."
Sure enough, the second and third chapters of Infernal Affairs trilogy are different in that they're told out of sequential order, and with each new chapter, you learn more about the characters and their past.
"The 'Infernal Affairs' trilogy is not three different stories, but a single story with the ending comes in full circle with the beginning," Mak explained, when asked about the decision to take a non-linear approach to the storytelling. "We actually developed both 'I' and 'III' at the beginning, and then we came up the idea of 'II' while we're shooting the first film."
The second film, a prequel set in the years leading up to the first movie, shows that there's a lot more to the relationship between the four characters than one could ever imagine from seeing the first movie. The prequel also introduces Sam's wife and his predecessor in the Triad family, creating a fascinating interplay that will remind some of another classic trilogy, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. It might be the richest chapter as far as information, as well as the most riveting in terms of filmmaking.
There were certainly some challenges about doing a prequel, as Mak explained. "As the story in the prequel is set before the first film, it was really restricting for me to write the script, because the audience already knew how these characters would end from the first film. For example, if I were to write a life-threatening scene for the young Tony Leung character, it wouldn't have any impact as everyone knew he would certainly live to be in the first film."
Lau told us a bit about the influence of Coppola's Godfather trilogy on the way they handled the different crime families in Infernal Affairs. "'The Godfather' is a celluloid classic, and we're living at a time beyond the spawning of classics. It was passion, not box office, which drove us to complete the trilogy within a year. The key was how to capture an inspiration and realize it. We strive to achieve pride and honor for the Chinese cinema and its aficionados; and in our minds, our sequels should reach the same standard as that of 'The Godfather'."
The third film begins six months before the events in the first movie, showing some of Yan's background as mentioned in the first film, but it also jumps forward to the future, showing the repercussions of the events that took place in the first movie.
Although the first chapter of Infernal Affairs, now in select theatres, stands on its own, you'll get more out of it by seeing the prequel/sequels. That said, the trilogy should be watched in order-rather than trying to watch the prequel first-because that is the way they work the best.
Although it hasn't been determined yet whether Infernal Affairs II and III will get some sort of release stateside, all three parts of the "Infernal Affairs" trilogy will be shown at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theatre on October 10 as part of the New York Film Festival. (As of Thursday night, there were still tickets available.) II and III will also be reshown as part of the Walter Reade Theatre's Hong Kong retrospective later this month.
source:
comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php
comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php
Source: Edward Douglas
October 8, 2004
Police and crime dramas have a rich history in Asian cinema, but few other films have had as big an impact on the continent as Infernal Affairs, a trilogy of films by directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak that sheds light on the never ending battle between the Hong Kong police and the Triad crime families using undercover moles planted to keep tabs on each other.
A huge hit in Asia, the first part of the trilogy has been in select theatres the past few weeks, but on Sunday, the New York Film Festival will show all three chapters of the trilogy at the Walter Reade Theatre. It will be the first time American audiences will have a chance to see the entire crime drama in theatres and get some idea of how the trilogy inspired director Martin Scorsese to develop an English language remake to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.
Directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak are an interesting team, the former a veteran who did cinematography for the Shaw Brothers Studios, the latter a promising young blood filmmaker. Their different sensibilities and backgrounds have allowed the two to create an interesting mix of classic storytelling with cutting edge filmmaking. Although they were busy working on their next film, they took some time to answer some questions we had about their groundbreaking trilogy.
Alan Mak began by explaining the appeal of police and crime dramas on Hong Kong cinema and their movies. "The Hong Kong movies are renowned for their action and cops-and-robbers genres, and there were indeed numerous films on undercover in the 1980s. But they're rarely seen in theatres nowadays, because the audience's preference has changed over the years, and romantic comedies are the local mainstream. You may say there's a degree of nostalgia in 'Infernal Affairs', but I believe what the audience love about the film is the new twists in the familiar genre, with a touch of Buddhism and unprecedented themes of choices, chivalry and mercy."
Director John Woo is clearly an influence on Infernal Affairs, but Mak told us that it actually was one of Woo's early American films that had the most impact. "My inspiration came from John Woo's 'Face Off' in 1997. I loved that story, but the notion of two people literally switching faces and still being alive was unsettling to me. So I began to develop a concept in which two characters wouldn't be superficially changing faces, but exchanging identities and even their personalities on a deeper subconscious level. The 'Infernal Affairs' script was completed at the beginning of 2002."
The premise of the trilogy may seem simple, but in actuality, it is a rich story full of complexities and depth that sometimes may require a scorecard. For the most part, it deals with the relationships between its four main characters:
Chan Wing Yan (Tony Leung) - As a police cadet, Yan was recruited by SP Wong to be an undercover cop within the Triad crime family, putting him directly under the big bosses. This allows him first-hand access to information about drug deals, which he passes onto Wong, the only one on the force who knows Yan's true allegiances. Yan never forgets that he's a police officer, despite being arrested and harassed by the cops for his criminal acts. His dual identity has messed him up to the point of needing psychological counseling.
Lau Kin Ming (Andy Lau) - Ming's connections to the Triad family were apparently overlooked when he became a police cadet at the age of 18, but hard work has quickly moved Ming up the ranks of the police force to the point where he is now a sergeant in the CIB (Criminal Intelligence Bureau). Like Yan, he's torn between doing his job as a police officer and keeping his loyalties to Sam. As Yan passes information onto Wong, Ming does the same for Sam.
SP Wong (Anthony Wong) - Yan's immediate supervisor and the only man on the force who knows that Yan is really a police officer acting as a mole for the department. He has his own ulterior motives for bringing down the Triads, and it often requires doing things outside of the law and behind the back of his commanding officer. Think of him as the Vic Mackie of Infernal Affairs.
Sam (Eric Tsang) - The current head of the Triad crime family. A portly unassuming man whose Buddhist beliefs tend to drive his actions, but his foresight into allying with Thai mob bosses to bring drugs into Hong Kong has made him a powerful and rich man. Once friends with Inspector Wong, their bitter battle has escalated to the point where their main motivations are to oust each other's moles.
Keung (Man-Chat To) - A bit player in the trilogy, Keung is a talkative small-time thug who offers most of the comic relief in the movies. He's also moved up the ranks in the Triad family, although he openly admits that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He works closely with Yan.
The first movie takes place in the present day, where the cat and mouse game between Sam and Wong has come to a head. They are hellbent on uncovering each other's moles planted in their organization. To make it more interesting, Yan and Ming have both been told by their respective bosses to find the mole, not knowing that they have encountered each other a number of times previously. This allows for many unexpected twists to keep the viewer on the edge, something that surely has added to its appeal.
Although sequels are imminent whenever a movie does well, Lau told us a bit about how their approach to sequels differed from the norm. "The common industry practice is to analyze the box office of the first film, and then greenlight the second film, and then the third. But this is not the way we treat our trilogy. We decided to do the two sequels back-to-back, because we're so confident about them. It's considered to be a milestone in Hong Kong cinema, a novel way of local film production."
Sure enough, the second and third chapters of Infernal Affairs trilogy are different in that they're told out of sequential order, and with each new chapter, you learn more about the characters and their past.
"The 'Infernal Affairs' trilogy is not three different stories, but a single story with the ending comes in full circle with the beginning," Mak explained, when asked about the decision to take a non-linear approach to the storytelling. "We actually developed both 'I' and 'III' at the beginning, and then we came up the idea of 'II' while we're shooting the first film."
The second film, a prequel set in the years leading up to the first movie, shows that there's a lot more to the relationship between the four characters than one could ever imagine from seeing the first movie. The prequel also introduces Sam's wife and his predecessor in the Triad family, creating a fascinating interplay that will remind some of another classic trilogy, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. It might be the richest chapter as far as information, as well as the most riveting in terms of filmmaking.
There were certainly some challenges about doing a prequel, as Mak explained. "As the story in the prequel is set before the first film, it was really restricting for me to write the script, because the audience already knew how these characters would end from the first film. For example, if I were to write a life-threatening scene for the young Tony Leung character, it wouldn't have any impact as everyone knew he would certainly live to be in the first film."
Lau told us a bit about the influence of Coppola's Godfather trilogy on the way they handled the different crime families in Infernal Affairs. "'The Godfather' is a celluloid classic, and we're living at a time beyond the spawning of classics. It was passion, not box office, which drove us to complete the trilogy within a year. The key was how to capture an inspiration and realize it. We strive to achieve pride and honor for the Chinese cinema and its aficionados; and in our minds, our sequels should reach the same standard as that of 'The Godfather'."
The third film begins six months before the events in the first movie, showing some of Yan's background as mentioned in the first film, but it also jumps forward to the future, showing the repercussions of the events that took place in the first movie.
Although the first chapter of Infernal Affairs, now in select theatres, stands on its own, you'll get more out of it by seeing the prequel/sequels. That said, the trilogy should be watched in order-rather than trying to watch the prequel first-because that is the way they work the best.
Although it hasn't been determined yet whether Infernal Affairs II and III will get some sort of release stateside, all three parts of the "Infernal Affairs" trilogy will be shown at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theatre on October 10 as part of the New York Film Festival. (As of Thursday night, there were still tickets available.) II and III will also be reshown as part of the Walter Reade Theatre's Hong Kong retrospective later this month.
source:
comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php
posted by:
|
Unsubscribed |
Advertisement
Advertisement
