Asian Trips - Triad Election
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List Price: $19.95
www.asiantrips.info Price: $17.99
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Manufacturer: Tartan Video
Starring: Louis Koo, Simon Yam, Nick Cheung, Ka Tung Lam, Suet Lam
Directed By: Johnny To
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
EAN: 0842498030479
Format: Dolby
Label: Tartan Video
Manufacturer: Tartan Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Tartan Video
Release Date: 2007-09-11
Running Time: 92
Studio: Tartan Video
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
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Editorial Reviews:
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A second-tiered triad member vying aggressively for the position of godfather is restrained by the current mob boss who isn't officially eligible for reelection. This leads to a bloody and cutthroat battle of wills between the two men, carried out in a shocking and ultra-violent fashion culminating in an ending that will take your breath away!
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Triad Election
Comment: Wonderful movie. Highly recommend if you like gangster style movies. Not that much blood, very entertaining plot. Liked it better than Election.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Johnnie To on top form
Comment: The ever-reliable Johnnie To's Election 2: Harmony is a Virtue aka Triad Election is in many ways more impressive and definitely more ambitious than its predecessor even though it lacks its relentless forward momentum. Where the first film was a literal relay race, this is more of a distance event, but it's a much more engrossing look at the nature and politics of corruption. It does amp up the violence from the first film, particularly in one literally grinding sequence, but it never deteriorates into a gore show, focusing less on Simon Yam's Triad chairman after a second term than reluctant contender Louis Koo, contrasting the one's troubled relationship with his son (who qualified for a lifetime in therapy at the end of the first film) with the other's hopes for his future offspring. It ends with the possibility of hope for one son but the certainty of damnation for another that hasn't even been born, the film bookended by scenes at the same location, the first full of sunlight and promise and confidence, the second dark and cloudy as one character finds that the price of respectability is the very violent life he wants to turn his back on. It's also surprisingly critical of the corruption in the Chinese government, implying that its collusion with Triad gangsters goes way beyond mere backhanders but is actually a deliberate part of government policy as a means of exerting social control in Hong Kong through close ties with organised crime - a particularly perverse irony considering the Triads' origins as political rebels exiled from the mainland who became corrupted by crime. Unsurprisingly, it seems to have been banned in Mainland China.
Incidentally, although there is talk of a longer version existing because of three striking scenes in the film's trailers (including a Chinese execution, the open grave of the first film's last victim and a funeral), an interview on the 2-disc Hong Kong Panorama DVD reveals that these scenes were cut by To prior to release.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Stylish but Monotonous Hong Kong Gangster Flick.
Comment: "Triad Election" is a sequel to director Johnnie To's 2005 Hong Kong gangster film "Election". At this point in the saga, criminal societies must adapt to Chinese rule, which serve as a sort of metaphor for Hong Kong's adjustment to its new place in China since 1999. Jimmy Lee (Louis Koo) has been very successful in his business of pirated DVDs thanks to the support of the Wu Sing Triad and its Chairman Lok (Simon Yam). Now Jimmy plans to leave the criminal world behind for a major legitimate business venture in China. But the Chinese Security Bureau sees the upcoming election for Chairman of Wu Sing as an opportunity to guarantee cooperation from the Hong Kong gangs. They refuse Jimmy permission to do business in China unless he can win the Chairman election himself and advance their agenda of stability and prosperity.
"Triad Election" is stylish and atmospheric. Jimmy Lee is a charismatic and suitably sociopathic protagonist. The story has a vague logic. The tone is somber. There are flashes of humor and flirtations with irony. But the great majority of time is spent on the gruesome fight for Chairman between Lok and his reluctant challenger Jimmy. It's monotonous and predictable. I was bored. There is next to no character development, so the film doesn't engage the audience on that level. The comment on adapting to Chinese authority and the film's picture of the younger generation of more independent gangsters may have more meaning for a Hong Kong audience than for me. But "Triad Election" simply presents these ideas; it doesn't explore them. This is a moderately entertaining exercise in style. In Cantonese with optional subtitles.
The DVD (Tartan Video 2007): "The Making of Triad Election" (6 min) interviews director Johnnie To and actor Louis Koo about how the effects of Chinese rule in Hong Kong are expressed in the gangs in the movie. "Interview with Lam Suet" (17 min) is a question-and-answer interview with the actor, who plays the gangster Big Head, about his work on both of the "Election" films, working with director To, and how he started in acting. "Interview with Lam Ka Tung" (14 min) follows the same format in interviewing the actor who plays Lok's ally Kun. He also talks about his character in both films and his on-set injury. Bonus features are in Cantonese with subtitles. There is also a theatrical trailer. Subtitles are available for the film in English and Spanish.
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