A not-so-friendly reminder that people who kill for a living are not romantic, or noble, or loyal, or cool, or any of the other things that they often appear to be in fiction. When I first saw this several years ago I think I allowed myself to get lost in the dense, sometimes confusing crime narrative (not just confusing to the audience - at one point one Triad member gets the shit beaten out of him by another, only to find out via a cell phone call that the guy was actually there to help him) to the point of losing that bigger picture. That was a mistake, as that unforgettable final sequence (I mean this literally, as it was…

Loved this film the first time I saw it (even as I near seeing all of To's films, this was in the top 10), but a rewatch confirms it as one of his pantheon productions. To's table shots always say so much about the personal and hierarchical connections between the characters sitting at them, and ELECTION overflows with such scenes. The opening alone sets the tone: where To's table scenes tend to unfold in long takes that observe shifting positions of deference and superiority, the meeting of Triad higher-ups of the same rank is chopped up into isolating close-ups for each member, an indication of each man's sense of superiority and refusal to defer even for a second to those…

"There were so many characters in the story/that looked alike that I lost track of the overall story."
-8 out of every dozen of reviews ever written for this film in IMDb and Letterboxd that cannot recognize Hong Kong faces

A rightful nomination for the Palme d'Or in 2005, To's invigorating examination of democratic organization and conflicts of interests within Hong Kong triads, with a couple of events even being based on the cast's own experiences with the triads, breaks all Western preconceptions about the genre and, rightfully borrowing from Scorsese, To finds his correct (and probably the highest peak of his own) balance between violent confrontations as collateral consequences and dramatic juxtapositions to accentuate a message that is deeply…

I haven't really seen any other Johnnie To, but I think I am really going to like his films.
It seems that his specialty is gangster films, which I simply love.

Election seems to be unlike the rest of his films.
It is violent, but Election rather focuses on the inner problems of a Hong Kong mafia (or triad).

Every two years, a new chairman is elected president. Election focuses on two gang leaders who fight to become the new leader.

More of a political film about the mafia than a gangster film, it still is terrific.

Election is thrilling. Without any blood and massive shootouts, it manages to make your pulse beat faster.
While occasionally a violent scene will…

In the shadows, macho men with macho nicknames play intense power games for literal control of a phallic baton. If it symbolizes anything, it's not tradition but absurdity (as absurd as eating a ceramic spoon). Shares with "The Wire" the idea that a 21st century gangster would spend as much time in economics classes as in vice dens (or maybe the two aren't so distinct?).

Tony Leung Ka Fai's over the top performance as "Big D" is possibly my favorite in any of the Johnnie To movies I've seen to date. There's almost a Klaus Kinski quality to how unhinged, unpredictable, and intense he is (which makes it doubly ironic and shocking when the most brutal act of violence in…

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Alors jsuis assez surpris par ce film de To, lui qui d'habitude nous donne des bons films d'actions nerveux avec des pistolets, un montage dynamique, qui crée de le tension, avec des perso avec de belles valeurs héroïques, la loyauté, la famille etc... Et bah là il se prend totalement à contre pied. Il y a très peu de scènes d'actions d'abord, mais ce qui est important c'est que ces scènes ne sont pas glorifiées par le montage ou autre on est à distance et on regarde *spoiler* c'est des coups en traîtres et plus macabre que des pistolets, là on est plus sur de la machette, éclater des crânes avec une pierre etc... C'est extrêmement bien narré les…