A Little TLC(w): The Lunatics (1986)

I’ve been interested in this Tony Leung Chiu-wai movie for a while, but in my anticipation for it, I wasn’t really thinking about the time in which it was made.  Given the era, some of the nuance with which the story presents its subject matter is impressive, but on the whole, there are some glaring issues that are hard to get around, which is disappointing.

Dr. Tsui works as a psychiatrist in Hong Kong, and in among his more nine-to-five patients, he takes to the streets to provide support and care for people with mental illness in the city’s homeless population.  His work attracts the attention of Tina Lau, an ambitious reporter, and against the doctor’s protests, she’s given permission to shadow him on his rounds.  There, Tina begins to understand the full weight of Hong Kong’s broken mental health system and realizes there are no simple solutions to dealing with the homeless “eyesores” of the city.

As I said, this is 1986, so it’s not really a surprise that a good chunk of the plot hinges on harmful stereotypes about “violent lunatics” posing a danger to others.  After all, it’s 2017, and films still trade on that idea (hello, Split.)  And to the movie’s credit, it does make an effort to show the provocations against Dr. Tsui’s patients that lead to this violence – whether it stems from ignorance (Tina getting up close and personal to interview a homeless woman despite Dr. Tsui repeatedly urging her to back off) or fear and hatred (a butcher shouting at a homeless man in the fish market, waving a meat cleaver in the hopes of scaring him away,) it’s frequently members of the general populace who make these people afraid or antagonize them to the point that they lash out.  Still, even if there’s some complexity in how these situations occur, the end result of the “dangerous psycho” brandishing deadly objects at people is a lot more clear-cut and problematic.  I understand why the film goes that route, especially in light of the times and how much further we still have to go in understanding people with mental illness 30 years later, but it doesn’t make these scenes any less problematic to watch.

Which is a shame, because there’s actually a refreshing amount of nuance in other aspects of the story.  The film addresses a number of complex issues – the overworked system that can’t keep up with the demand and thus does everything possible to keep patients out of hospitals, the discrimination and struggles patients face trying to reintegrate into society after rehabilitation, the seemingly-hopeless battle being fought by those who are genuinely trying to help – with a fair amount of care.  It even shows that having a mental illness, even a severe one, doesn’t preclude people from pursuing relationships or having children.  That said, the reinforcement of violent stereotypes isn’t the film’s only problem.  Additionally, despite being relatively sympathetic towards Dr. Tsui’s patients, the movie keeps the narrative focal point squarely on Dr. Tsui and Tina rather than any of them, and the tragedy porn gets cranked up pretty high in many scenes.

I was little surprised at how little Leung is in this movie.  The DVD I got my hands on is clearly a newer release, retroactively capitalizing on actors’ fame by prominently featuring Leung’s name and picture on the cover (along with Chow Yun-fat’s) – in truth, Leung is only in two memorable scenes, and Chow features in just one extended sequence.

But I digress.  Leung plays Doggie, one of Dr. Tsui’s patients.  He’s very childlike, approaching strangers to “play” with them and then becoming frightened and bewildered when they recoil from him.  He’s also relatively low verbal, communicating mostly in noises with a few words or sentences thrown in.  For the most part, I’d say Leung does well with the role.  With limited screentime, the character hits a few important notes, and the more over-the-top moments are grounded by the genuine pathos of his situation.  I feel like we just get hints, though.  I’d have liked to see more of Doggie, and not just because Leung plays him – his character feels designed to introduce us to the world of the homeless and mentally ill people, and it would’ve been nice to get a little more sense of who he is when he’s not causing scenes at the fish market.

Recommend?

In General – I hesitate to recommend it outright, because it does play on these damaging stereotypes about mental illness.  That said, it also features some more thoughtful storytelling and fine acting.  If you go into it prepared for these unfortunate plot devices, I think there’s something to get out of it.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Maybe.  Leung pulls off a neat trick here.  Doggie seems at first ridiculous, a “whacky” crazy guy, but in just a few minutes, Leung is able to flip it and make you feel for the guy without a dramatic change in tone or characterization.

Warnings

Violence, strong thematic elements, disturbing images, language, and smoking.