Sparrow (Variety and Screen Daily Reviews)

[dleedlee]

Sparrow
Mancheuk
(Hong Kong) A Universe Entertainment presentation of a Milkyway Image production. (International sales: Universe Films Distribution Co., Hong Kong.) Produced by Johnnie To. Executive producers, Daneil Lam, Chiu Suet-ying. Executive in charge of production, Alvin Lam. Directed by Johnnie To. Screenplay, Milkyway Creative Team, Chan Kin-chung, Fung Chih-chiang.

With: Simon Yam, Kelly Lin, Lam Ka-tung, Lo Hoi-pang, Law Wing-cheong, Kenneth Cheung.


In gestation, and shooting on and off, for some two to three years, Johnnie To’s “Sparrow” checks in as a skittish, playful divertissement that looks set to divide his loyal fanbase. Tale of a group of Hong Kong pickpockets — title is Cantonese slang for the profession — who become involved with a mysterious dame has a loose, jazzy feel similar to To’s 2004 “Throw Down,” with sparse dialogue and most of the movie driven by simply music and facial interplay. A gun-free, and virtually fight-free zone, without the gravitas of “Throw Down,” pic looks to be largely a fest and ancillary title.

Film sets up an immediate link between professional “sparrow” Kei (To regular Simon Yam) and the real thing, as a bird flies into his apartment while he’s readying for another day’s work lifting wallets on the streets. Over breakfast at their regular diner, Kei’s colleagues — Bo (Lam Ka-tung), Sak (Law Wing-cheong) and Mac (Kenneth Cheung) — all take it as a bad omen, and they’re soon proved right.

Kei’s hobby is photographing people and places with his vintage Rolleiflex camera, and into his lens that day flits Chung Chun-lei (Taiwanese actress Kelly Lin), an elegant but distracted young Mainlander who seems perpetually on the run. Like a bird herself, she’s gone as soon as she appears.

She subsequently entrances the hard-gambling Bo at a casino where, in a delightful sequence driven largely by bluesy music, she proves Bo’s match in the pickpocket stakes. Soon, the entire quartet is fascinated by the firefly femme, who seems to compulsively come on to them before vanishing again.

Finally, Chun-lei makes her big play for Kei, whom she knows is a professional pickpocket as she’s been studying him from an apartment opposite. Intrigued, Kei & Co. end up meeting her rich sugar-daddy, Mr. Fu (Lo Hoi-pang), with whom they have their own score to settle, and agree to an elaborate gamble that will free Chun-lei from Fu’s grasp.

Back-of-a-coaster plot contains a reasonable number of traditional twists and turns but is not entirely driven by them as in many of To’s pictures. With an almost wall-to-wall score by French composer Xavier Jamaux (To’s previous “Mad Detective”) and Fred Avril, that’s alternately jazzy and insouciant, film is not not so much a caper movie, more a love letter by the helmer to the many moods and endless capacity for renewal by the city of Hong Kong itself.

At a time when Hong Kong is searching for a role in an evolving Greater China, “Sparrow” turns the clock back to a time of simpler values. Kei rides to work on a rickety bike, takes B&W pictures that give the city an almost ’50s look, and plays around with his three pals with no thoughts for the future. Take out some of the more elaborate set pieces and “Sparrow” almost has the feel (and certainly spirit) of a ’50s Cantonese movie plonked down in contempo Hong Kong.

Like many To pictures, there’s a dip in the middle going as the initial high concept wears off and the script winds up again for a granddstanding finale — in this case, a pickpocketing “duel” played out at night with rain and umbrellas, in which time almost stands still. But on its own terms, it’s never less than engaging.

Yam’s easy charm holds the pic together, and supports are are all solid, with Lam standing out among the sparrows and the Mandarin-speaking Lin fine as the skittish but crafty Chun-lei. Regular d.p. Cheng Siu-keung’s lensing is heavier on tight closeups than usual, bringing an extra intensity to the face-on-face interplay, neatly edited by David Richardson. Camera (color, widescreen), Cheng Siu-keung; editor, David Richardson; music, Xavier Jamaux, Fred Avril; art director, Tony Yu; costume designer, Stanley Cheung; soiund (Dolby SRD), Martin Chappell. (Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival — competing), Feb. 10, 2008. Running time: 87 MIN. (Cantonese, Mandarin dialogue)


http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936 ... 1&nid=2562

[dleedlee]

Sparrow (Man Jeuk)

Dir: Johnnie To. Hong Kong. 2008. 87 mins.
The spirit of Jacques Demy lives on in Hong Kong in prolific genre auteur Johnnie To's latest offering. Some of the scenes in this gentle romantic pickpocketing yarn are pure cinematic pleasure, but in the end the plot and the characters are too thin to turn a series of delightfully stylised setpieces into a fully satisfying film.

On one level, Sparrow is a paean to Hong Kong, whose colourful urban maze is celebrated in almost every frame. At times, the theatrical lighting and cast choreography are so like a musical that we almost expect Simon Yam, Kelly Lin and their fellow actors to burst into song; instead we get a deliciously jazzy, Gallic-tinged lounge soundtrack from composers Xavier Jamaux and Fred Avril that prompts us to see Hong Kong through a veil of Gauloise smoke.

It's not the first time To has done oddball romantic comedy, and the director's hardcore fans will consider it a must. But although its pickpocketing switch-and-bait scenes are a joy to watch, Sparrow is not going to do it for those Hong Kong action aficionados who have To's triad and crime films like Election or PTU on their shelves next to Infernal Affairs. This may in part be made up for by the film's marketability as a sophisticated date movie.

To's festival success is rarely followed up by significant theatrical action outside of Asia (Mad Detective, which previewed at Venice last year, is still looking for buyers in Berlin); but Sparrow could be the release that, in a small way, breaks the jinx.

The opening shot sets the tone, and raises anticipation: we see Simon Yam sitting on the bed in his shabby-chic apartment, sewing up the jacket of his cream linen suit with jaunty, exaggerated gestures: as he finishes, a sparrow flies in through the window. It's as if the curtain has just risen at the theatre: and what follows will stay firmly in the same hyper-realist, filter-lit key.

Yam plays Kei, the leader of a band of pickpockets who work together to filch wallets, watches and other booty on the city streets. Younger associate Bo (Lam Ka Tung) thinks he's good enough to take over from Kei; the other two band members, bespectacled, geeky Sak (Law Wing Cheong) and slacker motorcyclist Mac (Kenneth Cheung), play genial supporting acts.

When he's not lifting wallets, Kei cycles around Hong Kong snapping photos of city life – including, one day, pretty, nervous Chun Lei (Boarding Gate), who seems to be running from something. We soon learn that she's being kept by a rich businessman, Mr Fu (Lo Hoi Pang), who loads her with jewels and finery but has her followed by his henchmen whenever she leaves the house. Chun Lei's meeting with Kei turns out to be less of an accident than it seems; she contrives to reel in, separately, all four petty thieves, and, in some of the film's most inventively amusing scenes, work her charms on them – because she needs them to use their pickpocketing skills to do her a favour.

To possesses an effortless gift for turning the mundane into something magical through framing, lighting, atmospheric locations, and deftly matched mood music. He and the creative team at Milky Way are not quite such perfectionists when it comes to the script – which, though good at maintaining the funny, charming tone, is a little too linear and simplistic even for a light-hearted genre work.

It also lags significantly in the middle after the ravishing first act. But the final setpiece is a corker even by To's exacting standards. Imagine a duel between Hong Kong pickpockets filmed, choreographed and scored in the style of Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Though there's not much going on beneath its gorgeous surface, Sparrow is worth a look for the surface alone.

Presented by
Universe Entertainment Ltd

Production company
Milkyway Image (Hong Kong) Ltd

International sales
Universe Films Distribution Company Ltd
00-852-24163008

Executive producers
Daneil Lam
Chiu Suet Ying

Producer
Johnnie To

Screenplay
Milkyway Creative Team
Chan Kin Chung
Fung Chih Chiang

Cinematography
Cheng Siu Keung

Production design
Tony Yu

Editor
David Richardson

Music
Xavier Jamaux
Fred Avril

Main cast
Simon Yam
Kelly Lin
Lam Ka Tung
Lo Hoi Pang
Law Wing Cheong
Kenneth Cheung


http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyA ... ryID=37261