Infernal Affairs
09/30/2006 01:25 Filed in: Movies and Television
A Guest Retrospective Review by Andrew Wells
I'll watch a movie from just about any country, but I'm perplexed by most of Asian cinema. Maybe I don't get the mindset of Eastern thinking, or the style is so different as to be inscrutable for me, but other than Akira Kurosawa--and forgive my pompous tone, but you are not a true movie lover if you have not watched Kurosawa--I've mostly avoided them. Hollywood, however, has been remaking or importing Asian movies by the truckload. The most high-profile yet is the upcoming The Departed, which has Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon--a pretty good triple punch in front of the camera--and is directed by Martin Scorcese, who has a few good movies under his belt.
I first heard about The Departed around two years ago. It's a remake of a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. Intrigued, I laid aside my usual trepidations and checked out the original, and was rather surprised that I "got" it, perhaps because rather than assuming the audience will understand its mindset, the movie takes the time to lay out the characters and motivations.
Eager to break up a notorious Hong Kong gang, two police officials work for years to place a cop mole in deep undercover. They are the only ones that know about their mole. The gang boss, wanting to beat the police, works for years to get a gang mole into the police department. He's the only one who knows about his mole. Eventually, each leader figures out they have a mole. Guess who each leader sends to sniff out the other mole?
It's a brilliant setup. When everything in your life is a lie, do you become a lie too? Can you stay true to yourself when you've been someone else for so long? Each mole has to deal with these issues, in addition to solving their problems, working for their bosses and covering their tracks. The cop mole's issues are played out with a little more weight--especially toward the end--but the gang mole's issues aren't sold short either. One of the most interesting things, in fact, is the conflict that he has about his lifestyle.
The film has some riveting set pieces. There's a drug raid standoff where you just can't figure out how the moles are informing their bosses, and the answers turn out to be ingenious. A confrontation in the police station where everyone suddenly figures out what is going on is played for maximum drama. The movie makes credible moves to raise the stakes, but also supplies emotional resonance to the characters--something you don't always see in Asian cinema.
Eventually though, the movie just can't go anywhere else. Something will have to give. The movie tries to cushion that fall, but it's still a rough landing. The film further suffers from the traditional Asian postscript, where things are told rather then shown. But for three-fourths of it's time, Infernal Affairs is remarkably good, and I give it a high recommendation. As to The Departed, Scorcese has always had an interest in this type of material, and he's one of the few people I believe could improve on the original. So there's a lot to be hopeful for.
Andrew Wells can be reached at arwell012002@yahoo.com.
I first heard about The Departed around two years ago. It's a remake of a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. Intrigued, I laid aside my usual trepidations and checked out the original, and was rather surprised that I "got" it, perhaps because rather than assuming the audience will understand its mindset, the movie takes the time to lay out the characters and motivations.
Eager to break up a notorious Hong Kong gang, two police officials work for years to place a cop mole in deep undercover. They are the only ones that know about their mole. The gang boss, wanting to beat the police, works for years to get a gang mole into the police department. He's the only one who knows about his mole. Eventually, each leader figures out they have a mole. Guess who each leader sends to sniff out the other mole?
It's a brilliant setup. When everything in your life is a lie, do you become a lie too? Can you stay true to yourself when you've been someone else for so long? Each mole has to deal with these issues, in addition to solving their problems, working for their bosses and covering their tracks. The cop mole's issues are played out with a little more weight--especially toward the end--but the gang mole's issues aren't sold short either. One of the most interesting things, in fact, is the conflict that he has about his lifestyle.
The film has some riveting set pieces. There's a drug raid standoff where you just can't figure out how the moles are informing their bosses, and the answers turn out to be ingenious. A confrontation in the police station where everyone suddenly figures out what is going on is played for maximum drama. The movie makes credible moves to raise the stakes, but also supplies emotional resonance to the characters--something you don't always see in Asian cinema.
Eventually though, the movie just can't go anywhere else. Something will have to give. The movie tries to cushion that fall, but it's still a rough landing. The film further suffers from the traditional Asian postscript, where things are told rather then shown. But for three-fourths of it's time, Infernal Affairs is remarkably good, and I give it a high recommendation. As to The Departed, Scorcese has always had an interest in this type of material, and he's one of the few people I believe could improve on the original. So there's a lot to be hopeful for.
Andrew Wells can be reached at arwell012002@yahoo.com.