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