Election (Hong Kong; Johnnie To, 2005)

  This beautifully-shot look into the underworld of the Chinese Triads is an unrelenting yet humbling view of violence as a way of life. Once the election for the new Hong Kong Triad chairman is completed , passed-over loser Big-D (Tony Leung Ka Fai) refuses to accept defeat and attempts to keep the victor Lok (Simon Yam) from getting his hands on the sacred baton that makes leadership official. This power struggle starts a chain-reaction that brings imminent war within the criminal society. Well-crafted and easy-flowing, this crime saga deals with lawlessness as being legal in itself, the inner-workings of the triad not only accepted but supported by law officials, the only valid code being that of the triad, parts of it repeated throughout the picture. Without resorting to glamorized, blood-spurting violence, To manages to present the threatening nature of the characters' world in a matter-of-fact, often humorless way (compared to John Woo). While of course violence is an integral and considerable element of Election, it is not singled-out or polished, remaining but an unwavering certainty of that particular lifestyle. The optimism of said lifestyle can be found wanting as the film favors very dark photography to portray it, sometimes reminiscent of a crisper, more colorful Gordon Willis. Coupled with the dynamism-building use of a slide-and-swerve camera during conversation scenes, this dark visual quality helps to create a constantly-moving world of danger and deceit in which perceived camaraderie is but a front for ever-present treacherous possibilities.