Johnny To is considered one of the best action filmmakers in Hong Kong, and in this smart, stylized gangland thriller (2005) he looks at the messy inner workings of a triad.
Election(黑社會)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Hong Kong · 2005
1h 41m
Director Johnnie To
Starring Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Louis Koo, Nick Cheung
Genre Crime, Drama
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An election is coming up for Hong Kong’s oldest triad society after the two year term of the current chairman expires. The two leading candidates are Lok and Big D, polar opposites in disposition, with Lok possessing a calm and calculated manner, and Big D being rather erratic and violent. Loyalties are tested as they ‘campaign’ for the position.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
By the end, Mr. To has proven himself to be a genre hack of uncommon intelligence and soul: a first-rate entertainer who can thrill you into thinking.
Some general viewers may feel let down by the relatively scant action.
The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett
A repellent movie filled with gratuitous violence, Election is bound to find an appreciative audience among those who like their cinematic criminals noisy, stupid and deadly.
Mostly Election tracks the shifting of power among men for whom power is all that matters, no matter how much lip service they pay to loyalty. The final sequence is a shocker but it's also completely logical.
A poignant moment occurs in Election when a young boy sees his father brutally beat another mobster to death.
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