Isabella (伊莎貝拉) is a 2006 film out of Hong Kong. The film stars Chapman To and Isabella Leung. Supporting characters include JJ Jia and Anthony Wong. Although this is a Hong Kong film, the story takes place entirely in Macau.
The film is set in pre-handover Macau. The police are cracking down on their rogue officers and sending them to jail. Chapman To is one of those rogue cops. One day, Isabella shows up and announces that she is his daughter. The two start a get to know each other. Along the way, Chapman is trying to avoid being the lone fall guy for these rogue cops.
The movie was slow, but quite entertaining. Isabella Leung became quite famous after this movie for good reason. Leung has since exited the film industry after marrying rich. Chapman also makes a good turn as a conflicted rogue cop and unsure father.
Rebellion (同門) is a 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Shawn Yue as an undercover chop. Chapman To and Elanne Kong play significant supporting roles.
The movie is set 15 years ago around 1995, prior to the handover. The HK Police department has a new initiative to take down the strongest crime syndicate. The syndicate is headed by "elders" and has 4 branches that have their own bosses. Each of these bosses have a second in charge. Shawn Yue is an undercover cop that has infiltrated up to the level of bodyguard for one of the bosses. Shawn's boss gets shot and all hell breaks lose within the syndicate with the other 3 bosses and their 2nd in charge. Each of the other 3 bosses have their distinct leadership styles. Chapman To and Shawn are in the same group. Chapman is the 2nd in charge but is not promoted to boss when his boss is injured. Chapman plays a hot headed 2nd in charge that wants to eliminate the other 3 bosses and become the ultimate boss. Shawn Yue gets stuck in the middle as he tries to help his police handler bring down the syndicate.
The movie was a unique spin on yet another undercover triad HK movie. Shawn's turn as a hungover conflicted undercover agent is apparent. Elanne gives a nice performance as a "soft" side. Chapman To goes "Francis Ng" style and wants to cause havoc wherever he goes.
I do recommend this film if you're still not bored with the undercover triad movies. The story has another twist and pretty well made.
停車 (Parking) is a 2008 film out of Taiwan. The movie stars Chang Chen. The rest of the supporting cast include Kwai Lun-mei, Jack Kao, Leon Dai, Peggy Tseng and Chapman To.
The movie revolves around Chang Chen and his parked car. While buying a cake, someone double parks next to him, preventing him from leaving. Because of this, Chen gets involved with the happens of Chengde road, where his car is park. Chen patiently waits from late afternoon to sundown. The first is a one hand barber next to his car. The barber is played by Jack Kao and tells him that the car probably belongs to the people on floor 3. Chen goes up and finds an elderly couple with their granddaughter Nini. The grandfather calls him Xiao Ma, the nickname of their deceased son. Chen goes along with it and ends up having dinner with them. When he's done with dinner, the double parked car is gone. About to leave, Chen receives a phone call. Distracted by the phone call, he sits on the cake he bought. Now Chen's butt is covered in frosting and he goes back to the barber to clean up. After cleaning up, he finds that another parked car has blocked him via double parking. Chen goes to a nearby tailor store to ask for help. Chapman To is that tailor and doesn't help him. Chen calls the towing company to get the car towed. The towing company is busy from it being Mother's Day and a Sunday. The towing company tells him to take a cab. Chen finds a cab but the cabby refuses to take him to his destination. Leaving the car angered, he kicks the double parked car. The car is not empty and filled with triad members. Just as they are going to do something bad to Chen, To runs out being chased by triad members. The barber steps out and tells the triad head to let them go. The barber and triad boss are old buddies and chat about a little history and their current situation. Chen's car is still double parked, but by a different car now. Chen heads to the fourth floor to ask if its their car. Chen than gets into an argument with them and is beaten up and thrown into a park ditch.
The movie is a trip as there are many small subplots along the way. I didn't even bring up Peggy Tseng's character. One of the subplots revolves around Chang Chen and Kwai Lun-mei as his wife. There's also the subplot of tha barber that gets somewhat explored.
This was a slow moving movie, but for a purpose. The slowness in the beginning turns into lots and lots of things going on in the second half of the film. Peggy Tseng makes her movie debut. I've not seen Peggy before because she's in Taiwan commercials and appeared in a few MVs, two things I see very little to none of here in LA. I think she gives a breakout performance.
Home Run (回家的路) is a 2008 film starring Fan Bing Bing and Chapman To.
The movie is based in the city of Shanghai during the span of roughly 12 hours. Chapman To plays a single dad. To leaves his son in a daycare center while he goes on a blind date. When To arrives at the site, he mistakes another girl there as his blind date. When the misunderstanding is revealed, both open up more to each other.
Fan plays a TV host of a show called "The Road Home". With ratings at a low point, she slaps together a show starring To's son, who also happens to be Fan's son. But Fan is not suppose to engage in her son's life after she and To divorce 5 years ago.
Fan's character is about looks, perception, and using people to get her way.
The movie was funny in parts and charming while To and the mistaken women interacted. When it shifted to Fan, the tone of the move diverges to mean spirit-ness. You're pulling for Fan to turn the corner.
Not sure what to make of this movie. If it were 30 minutes less, I probably would recommend it. But at over 2 hours, its a chore.
