The Toronto International
Film Festival (TIFF) is one of Toronto’s premier cultural events
attracting the global entertainment industry’s executives, press and
celebrities. It is the
world’s largest film festival open to the general public, screening
between 300 – 400 films at approximately 23 screens in downtown Toronto
venues.
Paradise lost in Blood
Brothers
Reviewers’ Rating: µ µ µ µ
Synopsis
Blood Brothers is the story of three close friends: Fung, Kang, and his little brother, Hu. They begin the story as poor fishermen from a small village outside of Shanghai. They are young, and trapped by difficult circumstances; and decide to make the move to Shanghai in search of opportunity.
There they are drawn into the vicious and seductive life epitomized by the most infamous nightclub in Shanghai, the Paradise Club, where the dance stage sparkles with beautiful women such as Lulu, the headline singer, and mistress of Boss Hong, the nightclub owner and powerful figure of the Shanghai underworld.
The story is further complicated by a classic love triangle when Boss Hong discovers that his right-hand man, Mark, the most lethal hit-man in Shanghai is having an affair with Lulu. Fung too, is infatuated with Lulu and her dreams of film stardom, however, he is conflicted because of his developing friendship with Mark.
As Kang rises to power, taking his two childhood friends with him, Fung has to make a choice between a life of crime and unrequited love, or a return to the man he once was, who had sacrificed his own dreams for his family’s welfare. Hu has been struggling to reconcile himself to the brutality of his new life in Shanghai while Kang, blinded by a lust for power, pursues his own ambitions at any cost.
Review:
Much of this is familiar fare to film buffs who have enjoyed a steady diet of mob movies over the years - and there are several quiet nods to genre-defining films such as The Godfather and Scarface. However this is a polished and refreshing effort that eloquently contributes to the gangster movie catalogue. Director Alex Tan presents a wonderfully stylized, well-told story that combines the traditional gangster story with the old Western. (Tan credits Serge Leone and his Spaghetti Westerns as a major influence).
Blood Brothers is character-driven and nuanced, relying on the personalities to drive the story. Tan accomplishes what is so difficult in this genre – real emotional conflict within the gangsters themselves, while establishing characters that convey the complexity of their relationships and choices. From the fearless and remorseless Kang, who seems determined to drag his friends to the bloody summit with him; to the gentle and sympathetic character of Fung, who is the conscience of the story – there is nothing two-dimensional about them.
Although there are traditional themes of love, loyalty, betrayal, and the ties of brotherhood – Tan brings a much more thoughtful story-line that contrasts the simplicity and poverty of peasant village life, with the urban worldliness of a 1930s Shanghai that is struggling to absorb the new western influences of its occupiers. The aptly named Paradise Club is a metaphor for paradise itself, representing the epitome of underworld power in Shanghai, and all that the aspiring fishermen hope to gain when they leave their village. Blood Brothers smartly draws out the dream of success, the price paid to win it, and how it can ensnare those who achieve it.
Iliana
Arapis is an avid film fan who annually attends and enjoys the Toronto
International Film Festival.
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