Call Johnnie To’s Sparrow proof positive that the acclaimed director can do pretty much whatever he sets his mind to. Yes, he frequently strays from the gangster and action pictures that have made his reputation internationally and has a number of romances and comedies to his credit. But in the past when To has strayed from the gritty high octane pictures he is best known for he has generally stayed within the bounds of other genres popular within Hong Kong cinema. But Sparrow, this is something else entirely. A film made by a man who clearly loves film, Sparrow is a film that belongs to another time and another place, a film that owes debts to European art film of the sixties and the mainstream musicals of Golden Age Hollywood. This is a film that’s all elegance and grace, a classy pickpocket caper that puts Simon Yam in a role that could easily have been filled by an Astaire or Kelly.
Simon Yam stars as the dapper head of a four man team of pickpockets, masters of their art who ply their trade in the busy streets of Hong Kong. Theirs is a crime that relies on skill and precision, a craft that must be learned and honed through hours of hard practice, and while they are certainly criminals they are classy criminals and none classier than Yam himself. Despite making his living through crime Yam appears as though he could easily slide into upper class life with his pleasant demeanor, slick dress and love of photography. The group have a regular routine laid out, they make a good living and follow a set routine until the day that a mysterious woman crosses their path – a woman who plays each of the team members beautifully, eventually manipulating the group into helping her out of a difficult situation with a local crime boss.
Beautifully shot and remarkably light on dialogue, Sparrow is a film that relies heavily on rhythm and flow. It never wastes words telling you things it could show you instead and it proves that To is an absolute master of visual language. With the visuals married to a stellar soundtrack – a CD release, please? – the film moves with a grace that wouldn’t seem out of place in a musical and while it never crosses that particular line the word is that To actually did hire a dance choreographer to plan the rhythms and movements in the complex pickpocket sequences.
Crafted over the span of three years Sparrow has literally been in progress in some form or another in parallel with most of the films in To’s recent hot streak. I’ve said in these pages before that I consider the highly stylish Exiled to be, in some sense, a response to the ultra-hard Election films, a chance to blow off steam after putting together such an incredible intense pair of pictures. Well, if that is the case, then you must consider Sparrow the project that kept To and company balanced throughout the process of making those other films. It is a film as light and effortless as Exiled is kinetic, a film that balances Mad Detective’s delusions with a sort of grace. Fans who only want to see To shoot the hell out of stuff – which he does as well or better than anyone else on the planet – may well be disappointed with Sparrow but for those willing to go where To wants to take them this is proof that he is a hugely talented director with simply enormous range.