Wild Search
Reviewed by YTSL
Before I (finally) checked out this 1989 offering
from director Ringo Lam, I had already felt that I had been provided with
positive evidence of the self-described “dark faced god”’s works being more
likely to contain scenes of chaotic violence or unglamorous bloodletting than
“Heroic Bloodshed”. Ditto re it being so that -- as Law Kar observed
in a HKIFF catalogue article entitled “Hero on Fire” -- whereas women are
insignificant as well as secondary characters in John Woo’s movies, the females
that appear in this often under-rated auteur’s films -- including even those
with supporting rather than main parts to play in the overall proceedings
-- often do have a strong bearing on the lives of his male protagonists (1997:70).
After viewing that which is one of eight cinematic efforts that paired together
Chow Yun-Fat and Cherie Chung, another myth that I feel got debunked was
of WILD SEARCH being basically the Hong Kong version of “Witness”.
To be sure, this small gem of a multi-genre offering does have as its lead
character an urban cop who gets to know a female rural resident -- that he
ends up falling for -- by way of a small child who had been in the vicinity
of a crime that he is investigating. However, in this Nam Yin scripted
work (that’s about equal parts action-filled crime drama, slow -- but steady
-- moving romance and possibly overly saccharine sweet family drama), the
four year old Ka Ka is less the witness of a particular criminal action than
the link to the major villain of the piece through her being his (illegitimate)
daughter as well as that of the woman (played by Elaine Kam) who was killed
while in the middle of conducting an arms deal on his behalf.
Something else that I found interesting about this quite charming movie --
that also has Tommy Wong appearing as Chow Yun-Fat’s character’s professional
partner, Nam -- was it being so that: Even while Ka Ka’s situation
in WILD SEARCH would appear to be more dangerous than that of the boy witness
in the 1985 Peter Weir work, no attempts were made to hide the surprisingly
emotionally resilient tyke (from those people who one might think would benefit
from her being permanently silenced) or provide the young girl with police
protection (from anyone other than, as it turned out at one point, her disapproving
grandfather). Instead, once her dead mother got properly identified
(as being antique shop owner, Elaine Lee), and it was established that Ka
Ka has a caring maternal aunt (who the English subtitles identify as Cher,
and comes in the form of Cherie Chung) along with a curmudgeonly grandfather
(played by Ku Feng) who had effectively disowned his elder daughter because
she had elected to follow the unscrupulous man essayed by Paul Chun Pui),
the child just immediately got placed in the care of her New Territories
dwelling relatives.
At least, the affable detective sergeant (portrayed by Chow Yun-Fat) who
was in charge of the police raid -- that successfully broke up the arms deal
but also resulted in the death of Ka Ka’s mother -- was responsible enough
to provide the now effectively orphaned kid with his phone number to ring
if she ever felt that she was in any danger. However, he -- who actually
was named Lau Chun Peng but told the little lass to call “Mew Mew”! -- ended
up causing more problems (for himself, if no one else) than solving any by
pressing Ka Ka’s millionaire father to financially provide for the girl who’s
the sleazebag’s biological -- even if not legal -- offspring. Additionally,
there are sub-plots in WILD SEARCH which have Mew Mew’s actions and very
presence in their lives complicating the relations between Cher and her ex-husband
(who nursed hopes of reconciling with the woman) as well as Ka Ka and her
grandfather.
Still, the really major troubles and twists in the tale stemmed from Ka Ka’s
mother’s business partner -- a Vietnamese man named Bullet (played by Roy
Cheung) who often lets his guns do the talking for him -- and cold-hearted
boss cum sometime lover remaining at large for much of the film and continuing
to import weapons into Hong Kong (and presumably sell to whoever was willing
to plus had the financial means to buy them). Indeed, just when this
(re)viewer was at the brink of being lulled into a false sense of security
by multiple playings of Anita Mui’s rendition of “Moonlight Represents My
Heart” (a popular plus easily recognizable Chinese song that is most associated
with Teresa Teng) among other things, this hitherto surprisingly gentle Ringo
Lam movie morphs (back) into one where gun fights and other violent battles
are the thrilling order of the day.
My rating for the film: 8.
From Brian
It seems that this Ringo Lam/Chow Yun Fat effort
often disappoints viewers who approach it expecting a rip roaring guns ablazing
heroic bloodbath. Much of these expectations are based on their much better
known film, Full Contact, in which Ringo took a swing at the heroic bloodshed
genre with interesting results. Full Contact though is really an anomaly
of their joint efforts. In their other films - Wild Search, City on Fire
and the two Prison on Fire films, the focus has always been character and
gritty plot with action really taking a backseat. And even with the action,
it is not the over the top histronics associated with heroic bloodshed, but
is much more realistic and believable. In his action scenes in this film,
Chow is far from invincible and is in fact beaten up badly a few times. Even
the final concluding fight is far from heroic - it is Chow simply trying
to stay alive.
In the end this is really a love story - and a beautifully played out one
within a crime drama structure. The romance that takes both Chow and Cherie
by surprise is very tender and tentative. The film is slowly but lyrically
paced and Ringo Lam seems willing to sit back, develop the characters and
the relationships and allow the audience to care about what happens to them.
Cherie Chung's performance is very winning and it is hard to imagine not
falling in love with her.
My rating for this film: 8.0