Mei Ah Reissue Roundup: PEOPLE'S HERO and MY HEART IS THAT ETERNAL ROSE
One of the great things about the home video revolution is the way video originally and now DVD and other formats extends the effective life of a film. How many films that tanked on initial release have gone on to find an appreciative audience once it appears on DVD? And, for fans of international film, how many neglected titles and overlooked directors have been given a new shot at life, new access to a new audience, by having their older titles made available on convenient shiny discs? Well, here are two to add to the list.
Director Derek Yee rose to a certain level of prominence a couple years ago with his much acclaimed crime drama One Night In Mongkok - available on DVD here and well worthwhile - but many don't realize just how long the actor turned director has been plying his trade, a situation that will hopefully be corrected with the fresh release of his award winning 1987 film People's Hero.
Unlike Yee director Patrick Tam has maintained a certain degree of recognition throughout his entire career but Tam was out of the game for so long prior to the release of After This Our Exile - available here and also well worthwhile - that for many his was a recognition based on reputation only, with most fans never having had the chance to see his earlier work, a situation now remedied with the release of is earlier heroic bloodshed film My Heart Is That Eternal Rose.
Both films feature a young Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Little Tony), both feature Shaw Brothers stars in key support roles, and both have just been reissued on DVD by Hong Kong's Mei Ah. The releases aren't perfect but they're certainly worthwhile.
Yee's film pairs Leung with Shaw Brothers star Ti Lung as a pair of desperate men who attempt a bank robbery. The pair are clearly in over their head from the moment they step in to the building nervous and sweating. Things get worse when Boney (Ti Lung) suffers an epileptic seizure and Sai (Tony Leung) wisely opts to simply call the whole thing off and walk away. But fate intervenes. The duo have been hiding their handgun in a paper bag, a bag that also contains a leaking beverage. Weakened by the liquid the bottom of the bag gives away before they can exit the building and the gun falls to the floor, exposing them for what they are and leading to a panicked Sai shooting the security guard. The alarm is sounded, the police arrive, and a robbery attempt that should never have happened has now become a full on hostage situation. Making things even worse is the fact that, unknown to Boney and Sai, one of their hostages is a hardened criminal himself, far more capable than either of the two bumbling thieves, and he doesn't take kindly to the situation.
What made One Night In Mongkok such a special film was director Yee's firm grasp of character and his remarkable ability to humanize the criminals who are his subjects while not apologizing for or softening their behavior and it is clear from People's Hero that this particular gift has been with him right from his earliest days. Sai and Boney make a compelling pair and Yee draws stellar performances out of his entire cast while ratcheting up the tension in his tight, single set picture. Clocking in at only eighty two minutes it's a lean piece of work with no time wasted, with no fat left on the bones.
For those who came to director Patrick Tam only lately through the quiet drama of After This Our Exile, My Heart Is That Eternal Rose will come as something of a surprise. Lensed by legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle Eternal Rose is a classic Hong Kong heroic bloodshed film. The raspy voiced Kenny Bee plays Rick, a strictly small time hustler in love with the beautiful Lap. Rick is blind to everything but the object of his desire and when her gangster turned bar owner father is pressured into one last job - smuggling a mainland crime boss' son into Hong Kong - Rick happily agrees to drive as a way of winning favor with the old man. But things go horribly wrong. The crime lord's son is killed, Lap's father is kidnapped and certain to be tortured then slain, and Rick is forced to flee to the Philippines to save his own life. For her part, Lap sells herself to another crime boss in exchange for his intervention to save her father and is forced to live a life as a gangster's woman. Six year's later Cheung (Tony Leung) is working as Lap's driver and obviously in love with her when Rick returns to Hong Kong as a professional hitman determined to take his woman back. If you have any knowledge of Hong Kong film at all you know that there's only one way that this can end.
Tam's film features beautiful cinematography and classic hard edged action, all of it anchored by his sterling cast. The Shaw Brothers icon in this case is Gordon Liu playing a loutish gang lieutenant and obviously relishing the chance to play so far against type. The convoluted plot and high melodrama are par for the course with Hong Kong actioners of this vintage but Tam has such a sure grasp of his characters that it all works remarkably well. While the action never reaches the extreme highs that John Woo drove the heroic bloodshed genre to - arguably killing it in the process since there was simply nowhere left to go by the time Woo was done - what is there is very well executed and designed to further the dramatic elements. On the whole it's a very classy, very solid addition to the genre and one that hasn't received nearly the level of attention it deserves.
Both of these DVD releases feature anamorphic widescreen transfers and reasonable English subtitles. The subtitling on People's Hero is grammatically suspect in spots but not distractingly so and the meaning is always very clear. The transfers on these are fresh and the transfers themselves are of good quality but, unfortunately, the prints themselves are a bit aged and battered so while the transfer is good there is some damage visible on both prints. You can check the included screen captures for examples. And, finally, both discs are formatted for all regions and so are playable anywhere in the world with no specialized hardware or software required.
