Fulltime Killer - Hitmen from Asia
Film Based on Edmond Pang Novel Directed by Johnny To and Wai Ka-Fai
Fans of 'Kill Bill' will relish 'Fulltime Killer' for its stylish execution and exploration of Japanese and Hong Kong assassin styles
If ‘Kill Bill’ is the type of film that gets you going, ‘Fulltime Killer’ will blow you away. Since ‘Stormriders’ in 1998, Hong Kong films have begun incorporating Japanese culture and showcasing Japanese actors in a big way. No surprise, as Japan has always enjoyed the reputation of being cool, cutting-edge and minimalist. Combine this with the professionalism of Hong Kong filmmaking plus a big budget and you get a blast from ‘Fulltime Killer’.
‘Fulltime Killer’ is a superb film that upgrades the action genre. Based on Edmond Pang’s novel of the same name, and directed by Johnny To (‘Running Out of Time’) and Wai Ka-Fai, the movie features Tok (Hong Kong actor Andy Lau), a low-rent Chinese hitman who wants to triple his earnings by toppling Asia’s top assassin – a Japanese hitman known as the enigmatic ‘O’ (Japanese actor/singer Takashi Sorimachi). O’s style is minimalist, restrained and in control. Tok is over-the-top dramatic, with no holds barred. Between the two killers stands Chin, an innocent girl from Taiwan employed to clean O’s flat. And there we have it, a not-so-original story of two hitmen fighting for the Top Assassin title, albeit done with unusual set design and superb camerawork (one camera shot involves an actual train passing Tok’s face by three inches).
But a closer look reveals exciting interpretations of Japanese and Chinese film-making culture. Examine O – a Japanese hitman who never emerges from his ‘cave’, a flat he occupies opposite his abode. He spends his time surveying his own flat through a telescope. Voyeuristic detachment and occupations of the eye (recall horror hit ‘Ringo’?) are familiar Japanese themes brought to the screen stylistically using video game execution. O kills and feels nothing, like a Ninja.
Contrast this with Tok, the Chinese hitman, who wears a swanky red jacket and swaggers down the street. He plays the erhu (Chinese stringed instrument) in a pub and rummages a video store wearing a Bill Clinton mask. Showy, flamboyant and fond of aping the West, Tok epitomizes Hong Kong style to the max. Tok also suffers from photosensitive epilepsy, and foams at the mouth when flashing lights appear. Watch enough Hong Kong movies you will notice that foaming or vomiting is a common feature. Why is this so? (Perhaps this is a topic worth exploring in another article.)
Love interest Chin, who works in a video store and longs for an exciting life, is suitably positioned between the two killers, just like the viewer. Is the audience gunning for the resilient O or the playful Tok? Notice that Chin’s spoken language is Mandarin, again different from Cantonese or Japanese (what the two hitmen speak). Add English-speaking police and you have a film that revels in its variety, while exploring differences in Asian representation.
With character Tok, the directors go wild with visual artistic license: embassies are blown up, hand grenades are thrown like dice and the finale is set up like a video game, complete with fireworks. Simultaneously, these bright colors are interplayed with horror undertones: morbid shots of O disposing his maid’s corpse and slicing her nails while listening to her music leave much to the imagination. Again, these are cinematic styles representative of Hong Kong and Japan. It gets a bit confusing when police inspector Lee takes over the story-telling halfway through the film, but according to director Wai Ka-Fai, the novel is unique because of different viewpoints. Writer Edmond Pang is happy with the directors’ take on the movie [1]. For the viewer it is a myriad feast of cinematic styles through the eyes of a Japanese and a Chinese hitman.
Other Hong Kong movies with Japanese influences
Initial D, Tokyo Raiders, Stormriders
Source
1An Interview with Edmond Pang Ho Cheung. Hong Kong Movie World, 2007.
