The Real Me

Director: Chow Wah-yu
Year: 1991
Rating: 6.0
A near non-stop action film with a few detours for a bit of drama and love scenes with Michiko Nishiwaki, which is fine by me! Unfortunately, there were no sub-titles so I am only guessing what this is about, but an educated guess I think. I would love to come across a sub-titled version or even a dubbed one because it is a more complicated triad/cop film than most. There are a number of characters and their relationship to one another is a bit confusing without subs. Is Michiko a mistress of the Boss or his daughter or just a member of the gang? Is Chin Siu-ho a cop but also a brother or a lover to Kara Hui Ying-hung? I never quite figured it out. At any rate what is clear is that there are two triad gangs at near war with one another. One led by Hsu Hsia, an older more traditional triad leader and the other by the new punk on the turf with something to prove. He is played by Karel Wong who definitely played his share of punk bad guys. Into this comes Kong Wa who by the end causes havoc and death.



We first spot him leaving the Hong Kong airport and being followed by Chin Siu-ho. They end up having a big fight on a rooftop and Kong Wa escapes. Later that night Kong breaks into an office and downloads something to a disc. I think it is an office run by Hsu Hsia. But Kong is spotted and at the end of a car chase he crashes and when he wakes up he has no memory. Who is he? Whoever he is, he is in for a bad night. First the cops come into his hospital room and beat him silly, then Dennis Tang, Hsu Hsia's right hand killer, comes in and beats him up and then kidnaps him. Chin Siu-ho happens to witness this and breaks it up but not before he lands a few punches on Kong. Kong gets away but has nowhere to go and tries to sleep and a homeless guy smacks him.



What a shitty night. But it is all worth it because Michiko sees him and picks him up, takes him to her home, cleans him up and has sex with him. Fortunately, for him he didn't forget how to do that. A sweet and sour night. Seemingly, he had a relationship with her, but he can't remember. And she is either the mistress, daughter or assisstant to Hsu. This is getting confusing. Later it seems that Hsu is interested in Kong in a physical way and when he sees him and Michiko kissing he gets angry. But at which one?



After saving Hsu's life when Karel tries to assassinate him, Kong begins to rise in the ranks of this triad gang. But he also begins to get flashes of his past life - with Michiko but also of this other woman who turns out to be Kara. It seems he is married to her or was. Chin is around her and I never figured out why. Did she marry him? But even more flashes of his past begin to emerge. He begins to suspect that he is a cop, an undercover one. But he is kind of enjoying this life style and definitely enjoying his time in bed with Michiko. Damn. What to do. And Karel keeps trying to kill the Boss.  It all goes to hell in a surprising way but with a lot of action. Basic B action but still solid. At one point Kara and Michiko mix it up and earlier Chin and Michiko do on a bus. I like the Chinese title - On the Brink of Bloodshed.