The Goldfinger (2023)

I’m glad I was finally able to get my hands on this movie! It marks the first time Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau have partnered onscreen together in 20 years—not since the Infernal Affairs movies! This stylish crime drama is a nice showcase for both of them.

Lau Kai Yeun is part of an anti-corruption agency, and after years of chasing, he’s finally on the verge of nabbing a particularly big fish: Ching Yat Yin, also known as Henry. Once Lau brings Henry into custody, the wild story of his meteoric business success (fueled by rampant stock manipulation) is told through a series of interviews and flashbacks.

The film is written and directed by Felix Chong—Leung has worked with him on numerous films, but maybe most notably on Infernal Affairs, where he was one of the screenwriters. I can definitely see some shared lineage between the two movies, even if they’re ultimately very different. This one has a pretty breezy style, filled with snappy montages and cool dialogue like, “A house full of thieves is easy to rob.” There are a lot of characters involved in what gets to be a pretty complex web, but the film reels them out gradually enough that it isn’t too hard to keep track of everyone.

If I was going to describe the vibe of this film, I’d say it’s the product of a one-night-stand between The Wolf of Wall Street and Catch Me If You Can. It’s got the sleazy 1980s business/finance stuff, with ostentatious displays of wealth and lots of people getting super amped about stock prices (not to mention screwing each other over!) And it’s centered around the cat-and-mouse game of the dogged investigator vs. the crook who seems to feel that evading jail is just part of the fun.

Andy Lau turns in some nice, solid work as Lau Kai Yeun. It’s a fairly understated role for him—and he admittedly has less exciting material to work with than Leung—but he sells it well. I buy him as this serious, by-the-book guy who’s been meticulously looking for the evidence he needs to topple Henry Ching’s shady operation.

Speaking of Henry Ching, that’s where Leung comes in. It’s a very different sort of role for him. Especially on the surface, Henry is all about flash and swagger, flaunting his wealth and reveling in his “too big to fail” good times. He wears loud suits and has risen from humble beginnings to become the biggest name in town (via oodles of corruption, of course!) If Lau’s performance is more understated than is usual for him, Leung’s is much bigger. It’s a lot of fun to watch him tear it up onscreen!

But what makes it work especially well for me are the glimpses we see behind the flash and swagger. Henry uses his larger-than-life personality and eye-catching wardrobe as a sort of sleight-of-hand to distract you from what’s really going on. He gets his start in Hong Kong pulling a con, and that sensibility carries into his businesses as well. In truth, while the glitz and excess distract you, his wheels are always turning. This quieter, shrewder side of him is in sharp contrast with the image he projects, and Leung does a wonderful job navigating between the two.

It's funny—I’m in the middle of posting my reviews of La Máquina, which features the long-awaited acting reunion between Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, and now we’ve got this film, which was similarly promoted as “Andy Lau and Tony Leung Onscreen Together Again!!!” But in both projects, the acting duo actually spends the majority of their screentime apart from one another. Lau Kai Yeun is interviewing Henry Ching and his various associates, but for much of the film, that’s a framing device for extended flashbacks that chart Henry’s trajectory in the business world. And in the flashbacks, the two men don’t really have anything to do with each other. (Come to think of it, Infernal Affairs is kind of the same way—Leung and Lau don’t really have that many scenes together.)

But like with La Máquina, the scenes where we do get to see Leung and Lau playing opposite each other are some of the best in the film. I love how Henry responds to Lau Kai Yeun. Even in the face of interrogations and accusations, he’s almost unfailingly calm and confident, like he still knows he has the upper hand. Because frequently, he does. Against Lau Kai Yeun’s frustrations and disgust, Henry carries himself like a man who’s in on the joke and just waiting for the punchline to hit. Such a stellar dynamic, and Leung and Lau are both killing it here!

Recommend?

In General – I think so. The film drags in places, but it’s fun, cool, and full of good acting.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Definitely! Leung delivers handily in this complex performance that falls outside his more typical wheelhouse.

Warnings

Violence, language, sexual content, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements.

Y tu Luna también: La Máquina: Episode 3 – “With the Fishes” (2024)

*Spoilers for episode 2.*

Oh, man! We’re at the midpoint of the story now, and it’s another banger. I really like seeing different elements of the story coming together. The tension is ratcheting up—how will our heroes, absolute messes that they are, get out of this?

At the end of the last episode, Andy came clean to Esteban about what’s happening. And it’s not just learning that he’s being extorted to lose his final match. It’s learning that this is the price for old matches of his that Andy fixed in the past. Esteban’s whole world has been yanked off-kilter, and he’s looking for any way out that doesn’t involve tarnishing his legacy. Furthermore, the visual and auditory hallucinations he’s experienced recently are getting worse. Win or lose, there’s a question of whether he’ll be able to fight at all.

For a relatively short miniseries, this show is packing in a lot of story. We see different techniques helping that along, like the judicious use of well-shot montages. Here, Esteban’s wild bender after his argument with Andy is depicted in a series of quick flashes, equal parts self-destructive and humorous. It’s clear how badly Esteban is taking this bombshell, but we also get a moment where he drunkenly crashes a wedding, punches somebody, and then gets asked for a selfie when they realize who he is. The miniseries also makes the most of its screentime in the way the different plots and themes weave into one another. For instance, Irasema’s investigation from episode 2 connects to Esteban’s predicament here in more ways than one. She recognized how many more matches end in knockouts compared to 20 years ago, and she suspected some sort of behind-the-scenes foul play to manufacture spectacle. Her digging led her to a former champion who was left with severe cognitive impairment after his time in the ring. And now here’s her ex-husband, dealing with frightening neurological symptoms at the same time that he’s being threatened to throw a fight. Some of these ties perhaps make things less realistic, but they make for a compelling story. And really, for a show about a shadowy organization that rigs boxing matches, “omg, it’s all connected!” is an appropriate vibe.

One thing I enjoy is how Esteban is treated by others. Everyone calls him “champ,” from his team at the gym to his doctor to the cops when he’s arrested mid-bender. It emphasizes that, for his entire adult life, this career has been his identity. It’s how everyone knows him, and it’s understandable why it’d be scary to face the prospect of losing all that. And within his close circle, it’s interesting to see how the people around him baby him a little. He’s the cash cow that’s been making everybody money for 20 years, but Andy thinks his pre-fight superstitions are silly and Sixto won’t tell him he’s doing well in training because then “he’ll get lazy.” In this episode, Andy and Irasema are arguing about his bender, and Esteban remarks, “I hate it when you talk like I’m not here.” I wonder how much of that particular element comes from Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna’s experience being “the talent,” how much of it comes part and parcel with being a celebrity.

Andy and Esteban’s fight at the end of episode 2 is painful, cutting so deeply in large part because of how much they care for each other. At the start of this episode, they’re both still reeling from it. Andy, who’s had these threats hanging over his head longer, is more immediately focused on their dilemma, doing his frantic best to run damage control. He’s simultaneously contrite/groveling and evasive/making excuses, which is kind of an impressive combination to pull off. But Luna sells it. I can see how Andy feels sick that his dumb decisions from ages ago are now endangering everyone he loves, even as he tries to wriggle away from direct accusations. For Esteban’s part, he’s hurt and despondent. Part of him wants to give into all that’s gone wrong while another part feels like he has nothing to lose.

I want to highlight a few great moments from Luna in these argument scenes. When Andy comes to collect Esteban at the police station, Esteban accuses, “They’re give you a cut. Am I right?” Andy sounds so genuinely affronted as he responds, “Don’t you know me, asshole?”, in a way that really doesn’t feel like an act or a dodge. He can admit that it’s completely his fault that everyone is in this mess, and his flexible morals have been on display from his first moments onscreen, but he’s still hurt that Esteban would think so little of him. And later, when Irasema and Andy are arguing, she tosses out the line, “My ex is Mexico’s favorite junkie,” and Andy instantly snaps back, “Don’t call him that!” That’s where you can feel the history between them again, that sense of, Leave him alone! He’s a fuckup, but he’s my fuckup.

Amid all the drama and tension, Luna also gives us some humor as Andy’s mom nags him about his low sperm count (she’s angling for a grandkid.) At one point, he responds to her distressingly specific advice with a numb-sounding, “Mom, stop going into my bathroom, please.” At another, he blends up a shake she recommended using raw liver(!!), and I laughed out loud at the way Luna physically recoils as Andy takes the lid off the blender and gets a whiff of the shake.

I wanna add another aspect of Luna’s acting that’s coming to the fore when his facial expressions are limited: his vocal performance is really great in this. Now, I’m on record as totally loving Luna as a voice actor, but in La Máquina, he’s doing things with his voice that we don’t often hear from him in live-action. I love listening to him go from a nervy false bravado when he’s trying to make a deal to a pouty whine with his mom or Carlota when he’s overwhelmed.

Other Doctor Lives: Gentleman Jack: Season 1, Episode 4 – “Most women are dull and stupid” (2019)

*Spoilers for the end of episode 3.*

We’ve reached the midpoint of season 1. This is a strong episode, featuring some good drama and compelling performances as things heat up.

At the end of the last episode, Mrs. Priestley walked in on Miss Walker and Anne kissing, and Miss Walker’s entire family is whispering about the incident in no time at all. Anne insists that the best course of action is simply to carry on as normal, but everything is thrown for a loop when Miss Walker receives some shocking news from a family friend.

The biggest narrative driving point here is the letter, which causes a major setback for Miss Walker’s nervous condition and her overall health. Anne was proud that Miss Walker had been improving since they were together, but now she’s in a tailspin and Anne doesn’t know what to do. The contents of the letter are upsetting enough for Miss Walker on the face of it, but there are deeper implications going on that have to be dealt with. This puts their entire relationship into question, and Anne, who’s been longing so much for a permanent companion, gets defensive and stubborn as the life she’d hoped for is threatened for reasons she doesn’t understand.

Some other interesting stuff going on here too. I particularly like Anne taking Miss Walker to York to see a different doctor, once with a less provincial perspective. Yes, he does say that most of Miss Walker’s health issues stem from “nervous hysteria,” but he also acknowledges that mental health is just as crucial as physical health, despite the medicine of the day having fewer effective treatments in that arena. He and Anne discuss ways to help Miss Walker improve her health by way of her spirits.

And as I mentioned, the whole Walker/Priestley clan is up in Anne and Miss Walker’s business now. For all of the Priestleys’ approving words toward Anne in the pilot, their turn is almost immediate. As Mrs. Priestley tells her husband what she saw, she rails about how foolish she feels, having defended Anne against gossip for years “because [she] never once thought that it was true.” Miss Walker’s relatives, many of whom have been grasping at her wealth, now cluck over Anne having her “under [her] spell.” As the matriarch of the family solemnly proclaims, “She’ll have her in Paris before we know it.”

As for Mr. Priestley, his first thought is to keep knowledge of this “indiscretion” contained, but since his wife evidently deals with her shock by telling every single person she knows, the cat is already out of the bag before he even hears about it. This leaves Mr. Priestley in a rather feckless position, all but wringing his hands as he vainly tries to pretend the gossip isn’t happening (even though it’s all anyone is talking about.) He’s a bit of a lump here, and Peter Davison plays that effectively—a Victorian stuffed shirt whose niceties are failing him.