While deployed with almost the same cast as "The mission", as well being similar to it in some ways, "Exiled" is a markedly different picture. The unique thing about "The mission" is that you can sit back and enjoy it with complete detachment, almost like a piece of abstract art work. "Exiled" is emotionally intense although the intensity is balanced by some near-absurd black humour. The background music, rich with Spanish guitar which blends well with Portuguese Macau, is as good as that in "Isabella" (also filmed in Macau) which won the best music award in Cannes earlier this year. Photography is beautiful, heartbreakingly so at times. Also, just watching the geometric wonder of how Director To positions 4 or 5 gunmen differently in each different frame is sheer joy, and reminds me of Kurosawa's "Heaven and earth".
For a brief outline of the plot, I'll just use the names of the actors for convenience. Quite confident that no elaborated background details are necessary, Director To didn't explain what's behind Nick Cheung Kar-fai's failed attempt to kill kingpin Simon Yam, which led to the former's exile. The story opens directly with four adolescent buddies if Cheung showing up in two pair at his doorstep upon his return, Anthony Wong Chau-sang and Lam Suet ordered by Yam to kill him, while Francis Ng Chun-yu and Roy Cheung Yiu-yeung try to protect him. I wouldn't go any further other than to say that the story line isn't really essential. There are two other key characters. Josie Ho, proved to be a serious actress rather than a pretty set piece for quite some time, plays Nick Cheung's gutsy wife with a small baby. An delightful surprise is Richie Ren who abandons his happy-go-lucky guitar strumming persona to play a sharp shooting police sergeant with dubious character.
As I said, story and plot is non-essential, nor even the characters. This is another successful exercise in style. However, trying a little too much to give the movie something extra (such as the lament of the dying warrior class, or a sense of absurd back humour) actually distracts from the pure stylish pleasure of "The mission", which seem just to flow out from To's creativity without any elaborate planning.
For a brief outline of the plot, I'll just use the names of the actors for convenience. Quite confident that no elaborated background details are necessary, Director To didn't explain what's behind Nick Cheung Kar-fai's failed attempt to kill kingpin Simon Yam, which led to the former's exile. The story opens directly with four adolescent buddies if Cheung showing up in two pair at his doorstep upon his return, Anthony Wong Chau-sang and Lam Suet ordered by Yam to kill him, while Francis Ng Chun-yu and Roy Cheung Yiu-yeung try to protect him. I wouldn't go any further other than to say that the story line isn't really essential. There are two other key characters. Josie Ho, proved to be a serious actress rather than a pretty set piece for quite some time, plays Nick Cheung's gutsy wife with a small baby. An delightful surprise is Richie Ren who abandons his happy-go-lucky guitar strumming persona to play a sharp shooting police sergeant with dubious character.
As I said, story and plot is non-essential, nor even the characters. This is another successful exercise in style. However, trying a little too much to give the movie something extra (such as the lament of the dying warrior class, or a sense of absurd back humour) actually distracts from the pure stylish pleasure of "The mission", which seem just to flow out from To's creativity without any elaborate planning.