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…

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…

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…

Tensions are high in the triad thriller Election after an elect Jon makes triad member Lok the new leader of the Wo Sing Society, a role that rival gangster Big D wants. The Wo battle it out and play hot potato with a small baton, but the most striking thing about this film, I shit you not, is how the bloody gangsters have a more democratic means of electing their chairman than us Hong Kong citizens have in choosing our Chief Executive. Yes, the morally-corrupt criminals in the Hong Kong action film can hold a more fair election than the country it is set in. Even more satirically, the idea of candidate in an election not accepting the reukte of the…

Johnnie To willingly letting this film get a 18+ CAT III rating bc of his refusal to cut a staging of an actual triad initiation ritual, only to have the film become one of the biggest domestic hits of the year is some next level mvp shit. this is one of the most patient and lived in gangster films I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, and the ease with which it cuts (credit to HK new wave staple Patrick Tam Kar-Ming for his beautiful work) between nearly a dozen leads as they pass through smoky tea rooms (accentuated beautifully by Altman-esque zooms), night time machete fights and murky fluorescent prison cells make it as much a feat of editing…