[CHINESE] Election (HK 2005)

Product Title : Election (Hong Kong Version)
Artist Name(s) : Tony Leung | Simon Yam | Johnnie To
Release Date : December 20, 2005
Language : Cantonese, Mandarin
Subtitle : Simplified Chinese , English , Traditional Chinese

In competition in the Cannes Film Festival and receiving as many as 11 nominations in the Taiwan Golden Horse awards, Election is indeed the best Hong Kong triad movie in 2005.

Johnnie To offers a very different take on the Hong Kong triad genre in Election. Simon Yam Tat Wah and Tony Leung Ka Fai portray two triad leaders who struggle with each other to head the Wo Sing Society. The film never romanticizes triad leaders as heroes (like the Young and Dangerous series), nor condemns them as criminals, but offers an extremely realistic portrayal of gangsters as human beings.

Apart from the two superstars Simon Yam and Tony Leung as potential Chairpersons Big D and Lok respectively, the film also has Louis Koo playing the young, brilliant, and college-educated rising star in the triad. Veteran Wong Tin Lam is the influential senior triad member Uncle Teng. Well-experienced actors including Nick Cheung, Eddie Cheung, Lam Suet, and Gordon Lam, who has excelled in many other Johnnie To movies, vividly portray other gangsters in the film, and Maggie Shiu is Tony Leung's wife.

The film title Election already spells out the plot: it follows the Chairman selection process in the Wo Sing Society. The film opens with the ceremonial rituals of the Chairman's inauguration, which reminds us of the Society's origin being a centuries-old institution once with a virtuous aim of overthrowing tyranny. Ironically, while the head of the Wo Sing Society is still elected by senior triad members nowadays, the temperamental Big D (Tong Leung) and the calculating Lok (Simon Yam) both attempt to beat their competitors by all means, including bribing the seniors and bullying the opponents.

The intervention from the police and Uncle Teng (Wong Tin Lam), and the conflicts and cooperation among the junior triad members, etc, lead to complicated politics and, undoubtedly, fierce fights as well. Even without a single gunshot, the film still contains plenty of spectacular actions alongside with in-depth depiction of human nature during power struggle. Johnnie To enriches the film with a political allusion to the present day Hong Kong, making this excellent title more than just another triad movie.

Code:

Ripper ...........: Team ESPiSE   Video Codec ......: XviD
Release Date .....: 12/20/2005     Video Quality ....: ~842 kbps
Theater Date .....: 10/20/2005     Resolution .......: 608x256
DVD RLS Date .....: 12/20/2005     Audio Codec ......: MP3 VBR
DVD Runtime ......: 01:39:56     Audio Bitrate ....: ~131 kbps
Aspect Ratio .....: 2.38:1       Framerate ........: 23.976
Language .........: Cantonese     Subtitles ........: English/Chinese
IMDb URL..........: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434008/
IMDB Rating ......: 6.6/10 (121 votes)
Film Genre .......: Crime / Drama / Thriller
File Name.........: election.2005.dvdrip.xvid-espise.avi
Packet............: 49x15 MB
Filesize..........: 701 MB (735,178,752 bytes)