Ah Sou (2005)
Reviewed by: dleedlee on 2005-10-08
A muddled script about triad vengeance and forgiveness, Anthony Wong's gangster mugging and Karena Lam's performance are the reasons to watch this film. Annie Liu, a newcomer, is awful as the mopey adopted daughter of Eric Tsang, a triad boss. Unfortunately, she is the centerpiece of the story. Simon Yam (in a lovely pastel blue suit and white belt accent), Alex Fong and Liu Ye fill out the roles as triad brothers. Yuen Wah plays a reformed triad, now a Buddhist monk. Liu Ye, an up and coming heartthrob from the mainland (Foliage, Purple Butterfly, Jasmine Women, Balzac and the Little Seamstress, Lan Yu and Postmen in the Mountains, among others) should also be singled out for his performance. His character, Pilot, Phoebe's bodyguard, is more fleshed out than his triad brethren. Karena Lam looking and acting beyond her years reminds me of a younger Carina Lau. Another sartorial note, Anthony Wong wears a couple of the worst looking suits ever. On the other hand, the film is festooned with fine designer eyewear, I'm guessing from one of the film's underwriter.

The cinematography and art design are quite striking and adds a positive and welcome note to the feature. There are all sorts of camera trickery and effects, and also bits of animation and CGI that help maintain interest where the plot falters. A multi-car crash scene seems to be resurrected out of the '80s and strikes an incongruous tone to an otherwise mostly understated direction. Action fans will be disappointed with not much beyond a couple of brief flashback action scenes, the aforementioned crash-o-mania car sequence and a slow motion ambush scene. The film has a decidedly Korean feel to it, in pacing, music and design; perhaps it's the music by Remedios. A great deal of the scenes is shot in slow motion. While very stylish looking, the tempo is too languid overall to sustain interest. I found myself too often looking at how much time was remaining rather than being engrossed in the story.

Filmed in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

(10/8/05)
Reviewer Score: 5