infernal affairs
Jul. 12th, 2008 03:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lobelia321Today I saw on DVD the film Infernal Affairs. It stars Andy Lau and Tony Leung, and they are both exceedingly sexy.
It's been a while that I've seen a film with this many good-looking men in it. And they're all Chinese, a physical look that appeals to me very much. I'd only seen one Hong Kong thriller before, years ago, and I didn't like it but I may have to give the genre another chance because Infernal Affairs (I don't know what the original title is) is very good.
This is a shot from the climactic scene where the two main protagonists encounter each other on a rooftop and havesex it out. The chemistry between them is very hot suspenseful.
The structure of the film is clean and classic -- or not. 30 minutes to set it all up: who's who but I had no idea what was going on; it all didn't click into place for me until the 30th minute. The plot may be familiar to those of you who've seen The Departed which was the American remake of Infernal Affairs (with the very angsty hot well-acting Leonardo DiCaprio but I digress).
The next 30 minutes sets up the plot suspense and tension between the two protagonists who, as yet, don't know each other's identities (one's a baddie masquerading as a goodie, one's a goodie who has to pretend to be a baddie), and it ends around the 60th minute with the death of a father figure to both of them, but especially to the goodie.
Another 20 or so minutes ensue where, like hounds on the scent of semen, the two protagonists circle around each other, getting ever closer, and then they meet up in person; the tables turn, the hunted becomes the hunted and all that.
The final quarter of the film contains the climax on the rooftop where the two protagonists all but have sex (I'm tellin' you) although what we seen on screen is some close and intense gazing into each other's faces, some manhandling, some brandishing and fondling of surrogate penes (sometimes known as guns), and altogether cool goings-on.
The moral universe is very interesting. The clear-cut lines we start out with get more and more complicated: is the baddie really a goodie? or so morally compromised that he can never extricate himself? or caught in a tragic web of traps? And why is he so sexy?
The focus is on the two protagonists and their identities, a neat Manichean oppositional dynamic, and so the climax is not all the action and dynamic cutting and suspenseful scenes but the final encounter between the two of them, staged against a suitable grand landscape backdrop. Brilliantly satisfying plotting.
It's been a while that I've seen a film with this many good-looking men in it. And they're all Chinese, a physical look that appeals to me very much. I'd only seen one Hong Kong thriller before, years ago, and I didn't like it but I may have to give the genre another chance because Infernal Affairs (I don't know what the original title is) is very good.
This is a shot from the climactic scene where the two main protagonists encounter each other on a rooftop and have
The structure of the film is clean and classic -- or not. 30 minutes to set it all up: who's who but I had no idea what was going on; it all didn't click into place for me until the 30th minute. The plot may be familiar to those of you who've seen The Departed which was the American remake of Infernal Affairs (with the very
The next 30 minutes sets up the plot suspense and tension between the two protagonists who, as yet, don't know each other's identities (one's a baddie masquerading as a goodie, one's a goodie who has to pretend to be a baddie), and it ends around the 60th minute with the death of a father figure to both of them, but especially to the goodie.
Another 20 or so minutes ensue where, like hounds on the scent of semen, the two protagonists circle around each other, getting ever closer, and then they meet up in person; the tables turn, the hunted becomes the hunted and all that.
The final quarter of the film contains the climax on the rooftop where the two protagonists all but have sex (I'm tellin' you) although what we seen on screen is some close and intense gazing into each other's faces, some manhandling, some brandishing and fondling of surrogate penes (sometimes known as guns), and altogether cool goings-on.
The moral universe is very interesting. The clear-cut lines we start out with get more and more complicated: is the baddie really a goodie? or so morally compromised that he can never extricate himself? or caught in a tragic web of traps? And why is he so sexy?
The focus is on the two protagonists and their identities, a neat Manichean oppositional dynamic, and so the climax is not all the action and dynamic cutting and suspenseful scenes but the final encounter between the two of them, staged against a suitable grand landscape backdrop. Brilliantly satisfying plotting.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-12 03:24 pm (UTC)hotsuspenseful chemistry (between them) never fail to catch my attention. I want to see this film, too!(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-14 01:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-12 04:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-14 01:37 pm (UTC)P.S. I somehow knew you might reply here, oh knowledgeable Hong Kong cinema one; I was thinking of you even as I was watching. *winks*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-14 02:36 pm (UTC)But. The 2nd film is a prequel that deals with the Anthony Wong & Eric Tsang characters and their complicated relationship. And the 3rd film gets trippy in that it loops back around to Tony's character still being alive & the events leading up to his death, as well as dealing with Andy's character after the events.
You really should see all 3. The ending of the 3rd film will totally blow your mind. :) Plus, more Andy & Tony & the Asian James!Spader is in the 3rd one.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-15 09:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-15 10:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-13 07:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-14 01:38 pm (UTC)