Reviewed by: ororama Date: 02/05/2013 To Live and Die In Mongkok is an average gangster movie, with one unusual twist that unfortunately doesn't work. After a pretentious opening, the movie introduces Fai (Nick Cheung), a gangster imprisoned for the last thirty years for killing a traitor in his gang and many members of a rival gang. He appears to have dissociative identity disorder. He sees the violent aspects of his personality as a separate person, Fai Jr., who appears to him as his younger self. He is unexpectedly paroled and finds himself courted by rival factions in his gang, who hope his support will sway the upcoming election of a new leader. He sees the neighborhood that he grew up in, Mongkok, as a prison that is as inescapable for him as the prison that he has just left. The mental health aspect of the story makes for an interesting approach for a crime movie, but the gangster elements of the story are not credible. It is hard to believe that the gang has any difficulty choosing between Fai's cowardly, stupid and out of control friend Porky (Willie Wai), and his slick and treacherous rival Peter (Patrick Tam). If Peter is not the obvious choice, they need a new candidate. Fai rescues a beautiful prostitute (Mo Xiaoqi) and her brain-damaged sister (Natalie Meng) from his old friend, and forms an odd family unit with them and his mother, who is suffering from dementia. Fai's interactions with his mother are the first clue that his peaceful persona is not the holy fool that he appears to be, but probably began as an intentional accommodation to prison life. To Live and Die In Mongkok takes a different approach to the crime movie that works better as a study of mental illness than as a gangster movie. It deserves credit for originality and offers strong performances by Nick Cheung, Patrick Tam and Mo Xiaoqi, but in the end is more of a curiosity than a success.