fatvegan

Election (with a back-to-front second "e") is a tops Hong Kong movie. I watched the first half of it twice, because I fell asleep the first night and then Tom wanted to watch it too. It was about the election of the new chairman of Hong Kong's biggest triad. Apparently there's one triad in Hong Kong that has had democratic-ish elections for over 100 years.

Instead of guns all the fighting was done with machetes and long hunks of wood. Not a single gun in the whole film. There were triad gang members running around the whole film and none of them carried weapons. It was all about political manoeuvring and mobile phones. It was 95% a political movie with a few scenes reminding you they were a bunch of organised crime bosses and not just the Asian wing of the Business Council of Australia. It was about the power struggle between two leadership hopefuls - one of whom were his brutality on his sleeve and another who was a little more circumspect.

It was beautifully shot, the acting was top notch and it will teach you more about the triads than any action film. Is there anything Hong Kong cinema can't do? They make great movies with shooting and great movies without shooting, and in cinema what else is there to be good at.