The Longest Nite
Reviewed by M.C. Thomason
Directed by Patrick Yau
Produced by Johnny To, Wai Kar Fei & Gary
Chan
Written by Yau Nai Hoi & Szeto Kam Yuen
Music by Raymond Wong
Starring Sean Lau Ching-wan, Tony Leung, Maggie
Shaw (Siu), Lung Fong, Mark Cheng, Sunny Fang, Wong Tin Lam, Yuen Bun,
Lam Suet
Cantonese with English subtitles
Anamorphic 35mm Panavision/Colour/Dolby digital
84m
Macau has long been the stomping ground of
rival triad warlords K and Lung, heads of opposing factions under the control
of the omniscient Mr. Hung, an ageing overlord so powerful that he has
not been seen in the territory for over a decade, yet his influence and
presence is felt by all. However, things take a turn for the dangerous
when K and Lung put their past discretions behind them to form an alliance
and break from the grip of the mysterious Hung. As the merger of criminal
minds steps ever closer, partnership and peace threaten to go awry once
news of a hit on Lung begins to whisper its way through the ranks of both
organizations. Corrupt policeman Sam (Leung), already on the payroll of
K, is called upon to investigate the source of the rumour, and quell it
before the situation gets out of hand. With a five million dollar bounty
up for grabs, that’s easier said than done.
If only the situation were that cut and dried.
Tony (Lau), a shaven-headed tattooed enigma, drifts into town on the afternoon
of the joint pact, his mere appearance the catalyst for all that will follow
throughout the course of the evening and into the early hours of the next
morning. In the course of his investigation into exactly who has sanctioned
the hit on Lung, Sam seems ever shadowed by the unsettling intrusion that
is Tony. The two seem to cross paths at every turn, perhaps too coincidentally
for Sam. Rogue bad-boy Mark (Cheng), K’s son, seems the obvious suspect
in Lung’s assassination, yet his sudden disappearance leaves Sam with a
troublesome loose end. Then there is the small matter of an unidentified
headless corpse that has turned up on a tip-off at his home.
Is the damning rumour a smoke screen for some
unseen force to frame Sam for a much more disturbing crime? How does drunken
club-girl Maggie (Shaw) figure in the picture? And why, once placed under
arrest in a stark cell, does Tony remain so calm in the face of the ever-escalating
atmosphere of terror? Sam will get his answers before the night is out,
but the final truth will leave a wake of bodies in its path, open a world
where nothing is as it appears, and ultimately prove more terrifying than
any party involved is able to comprehend.
In the arena of gripping, white knuckle crime
thrillers (where each successive revelation dismisses all that has gone
before it), Western cinema had Bryan Singer’s superlative The Usual Suspects
(1995), and Hong Kong has Patrick Yau’s tension-laden The Longest Nite
(1998). What commences as a rudimentary triad thriller peels away layer
upon layer until it has evolved into an animal far more frightening than
one would first suspect. There is no black, no white, as Yau and Szeto’s
complex script unfolds, just an inky world of shadows where anyone will
betray you…if the price is right. Jointly, there are no “good” and “bad”
characters, no heroes and no villains. The world Yau places his viewer
within is populated by criminals, on both sides of the law, the only thing
that separates them being a badge. Who do you cheer for? No one. You just
submerge yourself in a seedy darkness and let the claustrophobia take grip
as Leung’s protagonist’s world veers wildly out of control.
Those accustomed to the good-natured showmanship
of Jackie Chan and the ballistic excess of John Woo as their reference
points in Hong Kong cinema may be caught completely unawares by this slickly
directed, brutal urban crime thriller. Its “charm”, if that was the way
it could be described, is the fashion in which it lays out its characters,
then randomly switches gears, taking the viewer into a progressively darker
and nihilistic sense of ever-mounting futility and paranoia. As mentioned
above, this nihilism becomes claustrophobic by default as, with Leung’s
character’s world closing in around him, the same sense of impending dread
and menace closes in on the viewer. Just when you believe that things couldn’t
possibly get any worse, they do, and in a manner that is almost torturous
in its descent. The viewer almost becomes fearful of what god-awful truth
lays waiting around the corner of each new plot twist, building supreme
tension in anticipation of the seemingly fatalistic climax. Once the film
steers into its chilling second act, there can only be one inevitably ghastly
outcome.
Director Patrick Yau, whose previous outing had
been quirky street-level romance The Odd One Dies (1997) guides the film
with a deft hand, mounting tension with an assured footing, as well as
remaining persuasive enough to keep his audience guessing right to the
very end. His set-up is effectively slow burn, until he sparks an incendiary
menace mid-film that eventually bottles out into a ludicrously over the
top, bullet-heavy confrontation between the two leads come the finale.
Individually, Yau’s highpoint strikes just before the narrative moves on
to its final act, with the excruciatingly harrowing attempt by Leung to
escape Macau. It is a sequence that builds, twists, snakes and turns so
effortlessly that one is left wondering if Yau and producers Johnny To
and Wai Ka Fai sat back at the commencement of its shooting and mused where
they might take the film next. To paraphrase John Travolta’s character
in Swordfish (2001), it’s all about misdirection and Yau steps up to the
challenge and succeeds by staying one step ahead of his audience all the
way.
However, without actors of the calibre of leads
Tony Leung and Sean Lau, Yau’s surprisingly tight direction would all be
for naught. Tony, who many may remember from John Woo’s Hard Boiled (1992)
(and the rest of us admire for many of his key romantic parts), takes a
bold about-face in his role as corrupt cop Sam, never failing to remind
the audience that he is any better, or worse, than the criminal element
around him. Whether breaking the fingers of suspects, or gradually slipping
into unnerving paranoia, Leung remains believable and engages his viewer
at each turn. Lau, on the other hand, as the actor that seems to have taken
the mantle of Hong Kong’s hottest actor with Chow Yun Fat’s departure,
is
equal parts menacing, calculating, demonic and icy cool. Even come the
furiously choreographed finale, his character remains as much an enigma
as when he first appeared onscreen. Supporting cast are uniformly excellent,
with Maggie Shaw, who some may remember from Jeff Lau’s cult comedy 92
Legendary La Rose Noire (1992), the noteworthy standout as much put-upon
club-girl Maggie, who may just figure further in the bigger picture.
Cinematographer Ko Chiu Lam, previously responsible
for the lush glossy veneer of such films as Green Snake (1993), Rock ‘N
Roll Cop (1994) and Police Confidential (1995), invokes an enveloping film-noir
stylistic with his striking night photography throughout. There are a handful
of key sequences, inclusive of Lau’s downtown cell and the finale set amidst
a roomful of mirrors in a dockside warehouse, that are instantly unforgettable
in their visual design. Ko’s work in these sequences is mesmerising on
its own. Stripping in the final player that is the labyrinthine Longest
Nite is composer Raymond Wong who, by using a snatch of Giorgio Moroder’s
“Chase” from Midnight Express (1979) as well as a hint of quotation of
Hans Zimmer’s Broken Arrow (1995) score, crafts the pulsing heartbeat that
plays off the haunting visuals, texturing the narrative with a richer depth.
Like a Spaghetti Western, both protagonists have their own theme that travels
with them into every dark corner of Macau. Were I to be glib, I might suggest
that this is Yau’s own Fistful Of Dollars…
Patrick Yau’s The Longest Nite, although bearing
the indelible stamp of producer Johnny To and production house Milkyway
Image (which is never a bad thing), is definitely one of the more impressive
thrillers to have made its way out of Hong Kong in some time. Beset by
jarring performances from its two leads, and an oppressively grim, paranoiac
tone I have no qualms in affording it the title of a minor masterpiece
of crime cinema. My only word of warning is one of content, in that the
film harbours a mounting catalogue of relentlessly brutal violence and,
true to its criminal narrative, there is no happy ending to look forward
to ala its Western counterparts. Per many Hong Kong gangster epics, Yau
and Szeto’s script maps out the course it will take early in the piece,
then descends ever deeper thereafter. Thankfully, Yau never once attempts
to sugar-coat the supremely unrelenting fatalism of the journey that the
viewer must take, should they wish to see it out to the bitter end.
DVD distributor: Universe Laser & Video
DVD format: DVD-5 (NTSC Region 0)
Image format: Widescreen 2.35
Audio format: Cantonese/Mandarin Dolby digital
5.1
Additional features: Theatrical trailer; Cast
& Crew profiles; Premiere footage; Making Of featurette; Press conference;
NG footage (Outtakes)