Life is strange. I picked this Hong Kong film at random from a bunch I have on a hard drive. And of course Herman Yau was the director. I figured it was karma calling after watching his wretched The Masked Prosecutor. This had to be an offering, an apology. And it was. I thought this was great in many ways. Not everything. There is no more emotional attachment to any of the characters than a butterfly passing by you. Yau doesn't even really try that hard. Everyone is either a killer or a thug or a prostitute or a traitor or a jinx. Take your pick. Bad ends come to most of them. This is very stylish, some absolutely perfect camera shots that are Wong Kar-wai worthy - at other times Johnny To comes to mind, a lot of brutal violence and shootouts, bits of black humor and a plot that is quirky, at times confusing, jumps around a bit, shows little mercy but is ultimately intriguing and satisfying. And it has beer girl assassins. Those are a big deal in Asia - not the assassin part but very attractive girls often dressed in a specific beer brand of clothing trying to push that beer in bars or clubs. My favorites have generally been the Heineken Girls.



Seven (Julian Cheung) is back in town. A legendary assassin who once took out four triad bosses in one night. It was a busy night. The news travels as fast as a one-legged man can carry it running through a market place to a smoke filled gambling room where the one-armed man picks up the phone to let Sing (Raymond Wong) know. He is the righthand man to Fatt (Hugo Ng) who killed Seven's father years ago. He is in the hospital after a group of Beer Girls tried to kill him and did kill a bunch of his men. Why? No idea. Maybe leaving bad tips. But being the head of a triad is dangerous business and his fortune teller told him that only a woman could kill him. He is saved by a non-assassin Beer Girl, Cher (Mandy Chiang) and promises to marry her. What he doesn't know is that she has been promised that by three men and they have all been killed. So on second thought he decides to put out a hit on her.



Seven gets the job and it goes wrong because he decides he would rather shoot Fatt and has to go on the lam to Taiwan. He meets up with his childhood friend Goblin (Cheung Tat-ming) who is a mess and in love with a Betel Girl.  These are a real thing. Woman who set up small convenience stores along the highway but they sell more than snacks - option 1, 2,,3, Chi-ling (Ivy Shin-chin) says to Seven. Take 3. It is only a matter of time before the killers from Hong Kong come for Seven and meanwhile Goblin has to kill a triad boss to get his cut off finger back and win the heart of Chi-ling but after years selling her body she has no heart left. Amazingly, I read that this went straight to video which I don't get at all. Perhaps there were enough triad films already. Yau was a cinematographer before he was a director and he knows what he wants to see. His choice of long shots and close-ups is great and he plays around a bit - even shooting upside down on occasion for no particular purpose. It made up for The Masked Prosecutor.