Those Were the Days
Reviewed by YTSL
The Goo Wat Jai are back! And while this
latest installment is not "Young and Dangerous 6" (something which is being
filmed as I write this review in the northern hemisphere summer of 2000),
it is an official part of the series and consequently does feature at least
guest appearances by many now familiar faces (including those of Ekin Cheng,
Sandra Ng, Vincent Wan, Anthony Wong and even Kristie Yeung). Even
better is that this Yip Wai-Man directed movie does for the character so
well essayed by Jordan Chan what his "Portland Street Blues" did for Sister
Thirteen: I.e., give new insights, flesh out and further develop
a personality who had already majorly intrigued even while generally having
played second fiddle to Chan Ho Nam.
Right from the get go, THOSE WERE THE DAYS does
what its Y&D predecessors have done: Play with your expectations
and then exceed, by confounding, them (If you don't believe me, see if
you can predict the turn of events that take place in the very first ten
minutes or so and propel this 102 minute length film along towards the
path that it will largely take). Although it starts off -- and ends
-- in a present in which the movie's main character is known as Cock (as
opposed to Chicken in previous Y&D episodes) and does act like he's
Cock of the Walk in Macau (where he is visiting his Hung Hing colleagues,
Sister Thirteen and Ben), it soon segues into -- and its proceedings mainly
take place in -- past times when he was but (a) Chick.
One of the things the audience quickly learns
is how and from whom this man -- who I previously assumed had been so called
because he was as sexually easy as that category of women workers collectively
colloquially referred to in Cantonese as "chicken" (as opposed to their
"duck" termed male equivalents!) -- got what turned out to be an endearing
childhood nickname. Another matter addressed in this exploratory
drama is how and why Cock and three of his "heng tai" (brotherly buddies;
who are portrayed as young men by Jerry Lamb, Jason Chu and Michael Tse)
decided to become members of the Hung Hing section ruled by benevolent
Triad boss Bee (Ng Chi Hung makes a welcome reappearance in this role);
with the no frills housing estate -- condemned by a non-resident as "not
fit for humans" -- in which these then really youthful rascals dwelled
getting implicitly implicated, along with individual personalities and
actions, as at least a background factor for their straying off life's
lawful path.
No mistake should be made though that: At
the heart of THOSE WERE THE DAYS is a bittersweet, "opposites attract"
love story between two childhood neighbors and friends (who, when grown
up, appear in the form of Jordan Chan and Gigi Leung). If nothing
else, the wistful sounding music (which greatly contrasts with the pulsating
anthems that have come to associated with the Y&D crowd) that plays
as the opening credits roll ought to have served as "warning" re this.
To be sure, it is one of those romances in which Triad business and associations
frequently intrude and majorly get in the way; and not just on the part
of the male half of this couple. However, rather than complicate
and confuse, such shenanigans do help make clear why things rather logically
but unfortunately came to be the way that they were for the actually rather
complex Cock (and the lanky girl-woman he adored at first sight called
Gee).
If it is not already obvious, Jordan Chan is
my favorite of the Young Turk actors whose rise to stardom came in large
part by way of the "Y&D" set of films. Although he is by no means
the most handsome guy in the Hong Kong movie world, he not only consistently
looks good on his own but also has exhibited incredible screen chemistry
with actresses as diverse as Anita Yuen (particularly in "He's a Woman,
She's a Man"), Jade Leung ("Fox Hunter"), Charlie Yeung ("The Wedding Days"),
Chingmy Yau ("Young and Dangerous 2"), Karen Mok (He and she make a fun
pair in the third and fourth Y&D films) and Yasuko Tomita ("Kitchen").
In THOSE WERE THE DAYS, he and Gigi Leung absolutely
convince as a couple who have known and have had genuine affection for
each other for a long time (And the child actors who amusingly play Chick
and Gee weren't bad at all either!). Sparks fly too in this movie
between the troubled Triad and a Taiwanese fisher girl-woman woman he encounters
on Lama Island (Chan Pak Yue makes a confident screen debut in this small
but eye-catching role). Still, the often nostalgic but not entirely
sentimental film's absolute highlight scene is that which takes place in
a hospital room between Gee's mother (veteran actress Lily Li is wonderful
in this role) and Chick. The fact of it having brought tears to my
often-cynical eyes (and other sections putting a lump in my throat) should
constitute ample evidence that this often knowing work has the ability
to move as well as entertain.
My rating for the film: 8.5