Election review

Guns don’t kill people, triads do. And when it comes to well-known Hong Kong gangster flicks, they usually do it two-fisted, guns blazing – bullets as ballet.

So when Johnnie To, one of Hong Kong’s most dynamic directors and a veteran of over 45 films, steps up with a movie touted to be a landmark in the genre, Pavlovian drooling is only to be expected.

Prepare to have your blood lust disappointed, then, as Election is more interested in the internal politics of the triad society than it is in super slo-mo gunfights. In fact, the guns are gone – not a single firearm is seen in the hands of a triad, let alone fired.

Instead, To offers up a stripped-down study of how the organisation functions and where its future lies. The election of the title refers to the Wo Sing triad society’s search for a new chairman. But the competition between the two front-runners, the brash, bribing, impetuous Big D (a brilliantly hyperactive Tony Ka-Fai Leung) and the measured, respectful Lok (Simon Yam – a perfect example of restraint) is ultimately insignificant.

What is important is that despite Election’s sparse narrative and patchy characterisation (no doubt a result of To slashing his original three-hour cut in half), it’s the precise lack of all-out activity that is the film’s accomplishment.

Here, oft-churned conventions have been deftly side-stepped in favour of a thoughtful exercise documenting the conflict between tradition and modernity within an ancient element of Hong Kong society. To take matters further, one could, if familiar enough with the politics of mainland China and post-handover Hong Kong, view it as a bracing political metaphor.

The corollary of this refusal to pander to the usual formula is two-fold. To’s approach to the genre requires an audience to be familiar enough with his reference points to fully appreciate Election’s advances. And then there’s the feeling that something is missing; that To set out to achieve something greater than he actually managed. Characters drop in and out, and one in particular – Jimmy (an entrancing Louis Koo), a loyal supporter of a wronged boss – promises an explosive storyline that fails to materialise.

The unexpectedly brutal ending and a forthcoming sequel suggest To’s awareness of the weaknesses in what is otherwise an accomplished breakthrough in the genre.