Sparrow (2008) Man jeuk
Description: It was a Milkyway crime film that arrived after years of no Milkyway crime films, while Sparrow is a light, playful movie that resembles a French musical and not a down-and-dirty Hong Kong thriller. That doesn’t sound like the usual Johnnie To recipe for success. The plus to Sparrow is that it’s To at his most personal; the man put the film together because it was the film he wanted to make, and witnessing the playtime of one of Hong Kong’s best directors should never be considered a waste of time. But despite our love for all things Johnnie To, Sparrow really isn’t all that, and possesses little narrative thrust or depth to compensate for its brisk pace and cineaste-pleasing style and verve. That said, the film provides loads of cineaste-pleasing style and verve, and predictably, it’s all quite enjoyable. Ladies and gentlemen: this is your Johnnie To style over substance moment. Simon Yam stars as Kei, the leader of a gang of four pickpockets, played by Gordon Lam, Law Wing-Cheong (moonlighting from usual directing and editing duties, e.g. Hooked on You), and Kenneth Cheung. The film opens with Kei prepping for his day, bemused at the appearance of a sparrow flying into his Hong Kong Island-located flat. He relates the incident to his three comrades over a generic Hong Kong breakfast, but the three take it as an omen of bad luck. Afterwards, the four proceed to demonstrate their supremacy at their craft, creating distractions and snatching wallets in an amazing seamless shot. The camera follows them as they deftly take mark after mark, and from this single shot the message seems to be that the pickpocket’s life is a wonderful thing. This early sequence oozes nonchalant charm and playfulness, and depicts the four not as amoral thieves but as charming rogues whose vocation just happens to fall on the other side of the law. Cinema can give positive life to the most unlikely of people, and while thieves have a long tradition of glorification in the movies, To seemingly gives these characters their own uniqueness and Hong Kong flavor. Kei may wear nicely tailored suits and ride a bicycle like he’s vacationing in Europe, but he also orders spam and egg on rice in local cafes, and wanders around well-chosen Hong Kong locations that highlight the city’s cultural charm as well as its urban architecture and cosmopolitan feel. Sparrow portrays Hong Kong as a romantic and very lovely place – a very large reason that the film feels as seductive as it does. Further seduction occurs with the appearance of Chung Chun-Lei (Kelly Lin), who first shows up in Kei’s sights while he’s taking a photo in Central with his super-cool antique camera. He’s quickly enchanted by her alluring, damsel-in-distress-and-an-expensive-dress looks, but he’s left with nothing but a photo from this first encounter. Curiously, Chun-Lei soon appears in front of the other three pickpockets too, obviously charming each man with the same combination of mystery and glamour, if not outright sexuality. She’s obviously the film’s metaphorical sparrow, flitting into each man’s life and providing that moment of brief, enchanting magic that makes one think that there’s more at play than simple happenstance. But is she bad luck? She’s obviously hiding something, and may even be up to no good. Is she a high-class thief? A runaway heiress? A duplicitous femme fatale? Her appearances come with few words and mostly action, drawing us into the mystery of her identity while also giving Johnnie To a chance to show off his talent for irony and good, old-fashioned cinematic storytelling. One moment where Kei and Chun-Lei share a cigarette seems lifted from an old Cary Grant-Grace Kelly caper film, and Lin and Yam ably channel Johnnie To’s Hong Kong interpretation of what Hong Kong movie glamour should be. The lively score by Xavier Jamaux and Fred Avril gives every movement and glance pitch-perfect accompaniment. This is cinema to absorb and savor, and is innately enjoyable thanks to its rhythmic pace and flowing visual wit. The problem is there may not be much to Sparrow besides cinematic sensory pleasure. To and his team of writers create an attractive and sophisticated world filled with charismatic thieves and unspoken rules of honor, but the meat of the film is absent, as many of the undeniably gorgeous scenes don’t apply to a complete, compelling whole. The mystery of Chun-Lei’s actions seems somewhat unconnected to her true predicament, and the film’s main conflict – between Kei’s band of pickpockets and an old-school crew of thieves – seems to come largely out of nowhere. Like Throwdown, Sparrow exists in a world where far too many people are versed in an esoteric art – in this case, it’s being able to pick pockets via sleight of hand, quick reflexes, and razor blades carried on the tip of one’s tongue – and realistically speaking, the idea isn’t credible or even that exciting. Sparrow takes place in a Johnnie To world with Johnnie To characters, and that’s supposed to be enough to convince audiences who paid money that they’re watching a good movie.
Filme Asemanatoare:
- Elizabethtown (2005)
- Never Been Kissed (1999) Un sarut adevarat
- Two Lovers 2008
- Feast of Love (2007)
- Are We There Yet? (2005) Mai e mult pana ajungem?
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