Plastic City (蕩寇) is a 2008 film out of Hong Kong. The film stars Odagiri Joe, Anthony Wong, and Crystal Huang. The whole movie is based in Brazil.
The movie starts in the past where Yuda, played by Anthony Wong, rescues Kirin, played by Joe Odagiri. Fast forward 20-30 years to the present. Yuda is now the king of piracy in San Paulo and runs the whole market of Brazil and surrounding regions. Kirin has been brought up by Yuda and has joined the family business. Someone with a new idea enters the turf. A turf war starts.
The movie was quite gritty and had very few asian people. Much of the film was in either Mandarin or Portuguese. As I was watching, City of Gods seems to flash through my thoughts over and over. A HK film with triad themes based in Brazil. Refreshing and depressing at the same time.
Brothers (兄弟) is a 2007 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Michael Miu, Eason Chan, Andy Lau, Crystal Huang, Felix Wong, Ken Tong, and Gordon Lam (苗僑偉,陳奕迅,劉德華,黃奕,黃日華,湯鎮業,林家棟).
The movie starts 20 years in the past (fashion looks 70-ish which is 30 years ago). Yiu (Miu) and Shun (Chan) are brothers who hit a person while taking their fathers car out for spin. Yiu and Shun's father is at a temple and a fortune teller predicts that if the brothers are together, they will be at odds. Yiu stays in Hong Kong while Shun goes to the US with the mother. Yiu and Shun's father is a head of a Tam triad syndicate.
Fast forward 20 years. Yiu is now the head of the Tam triad syndicate now. The father is now retired. Nine Yim orders a hit on the father, but he survives. Shun comes back to Hong Kong to see the father. The father passes within hours of seeing Shun. The mother is now senile and cannot recognize her own sons.
Shun is feeling his way around Hong Kong and coming to grips with of his families triad ways. Shun doesn't like the triad ways and wants things to change. Yiu sets in motion a series of events that kills both Nine Yim and the son. Shun gets dragged in and spends a little time in Thailand.
Andy Lau's role in the movie is that of the police. Lau wants to take the triad bosses down. Gordon Lam plays his sidekick.
In all, the movie wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It played off a lot of assumptions about triad movies already. It was good to see Michael Miu back in action. This movie featured 4 of the "TVB Five Tigers" from the early 80s (sup Tony?).
It's not a bad watch, but not something you "have" to see.
