So glad to have a new Tony Leung Chiu-wai movie to review! I’ve been genuinely enjoying the ‘80s TV stuff, but watching a new performance backed by Leung’s decades of experience is on a whole other level. From about the 2010s on, his film output has slowed down quite a bit, but between stuff like Shang-Chi and now Hidden Blade, I love watching him prove in no uncertain terms that he’s still got it!
During WWII, Shanghai’s Political Security Department collaborates with the occupying Japanese to investigate revolutionary activity. Led by Mr. He and Japanese liaison Officer Watanabe, the department works to root out Communist spies. Interrogation, torture, execution—nothing is off the table. But as is the case in so many stories involving spies, not everything is as it seems.
First off, I do need to mention the propaganda aspect of the film. While I won’t begrudge a Chinese movie for depicting the horrors of the Japanese occupation and the brutality of Chinese collaborators during the war, the nationalist streak goes pretty hard. As with a lot of mainland movies, you need to take the film’s good qualities with a heaping political grain of salt.
The story is told very nonlinearly, skipping around in time regularly and at times revisiting earlier scenes with a newly revised context. Spy thrillers can feel like a shell game under ordinary circumstances, and this film’s narrative structure ratchets up that feeling of eternally being on shifting sands. As the story goes on, I was able to get my footing and follow its twists forward and backwards through time, but it took me a while to get into the rhythm of it.
This is a film that doesn’t shy away from shocking depictions of brutality and violence, but it also knows when to pull back and rely on the stripped-down tension of a one-on-one conversation between two people of opposing loyalties. The music is dramatic, at times almost oppressive as it seeps into the cracks of a scene, filling the whole atmosphere with dread. It’s a story about people with a lot of passion—for country, for freedom, for love—but few opportunities to openly express that. Everyone needs to be so careful when they speak, so it’s often in the violence that characters are the most demonstrative.
Not too many familiar faces in the cast for me. I recognized Zhou Xun, who plays Mrs. Chen, a revolutionary who’s detained by the department—she appeared with Leung in both The Silent War and The Great Magician. Her performance is subtle but affecting. Yibo Wang brings an intensity and coldness to his role as Mr. Ye, one of the younger agents at the department, and Hiroyuki Mori does well as Officer Watanabe.
But naturally, we’re here to talk about Leung as Mr. He. Leung is just so good here. Although Mr. He is the director of the department and frequently confronted by the literal bloodstains of their work, Leung brings such an unexpected air to the character. In his hands, Mr. He is precise, polite, and often legitimately pleasant. In one of his early scenes, he’s questioning a Communist defector, filling the room with conversational nonchalance as he patiently fills out the necessary forms before turning to the intel the defector is handing over. There are moments, bare rustling hints of menace, but they’re gone almost before you can register them, flickering like a mirage and then disappearing behind Mr. He’s smile.
Leung’s performance helps center the film through its nonlinear winding. Mr. He projects an open air even as he simultaneously keeps his cards close to the vest, but despite his secrets, I feel like the structure of the story is easier to follow as long as he’s onscreen; he’s like a lynchpin to ground you.
I have to say, Leung is also very effective in the film’s intense, knock-down action climax. A third-act confrontation reveals that Mr. He’s still waters conceal the power he’s hiding beneath the surface, and the action is equal parts messy, visceral, and brutal. Yikes!
Recommend?
In General – I think so, but be prepared for the nationalist propaganda and some strong violence. And know that, if your attention is divided, you might not be able to track the movements along the timeline, so make sure you’re in the right frame of mind to see it.
Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Yes. Leung gives a fantastic performance here that keeps you guessing, and that quiet charisma dares you to take your eyes off him.
Warnings
Strong violence, language, drinking/smoking, and strong thematic elements (including war crimes.)
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