Infernal Affairs
Directors/Principal Performers
Andrew Lau Wai-Keung
Andrew Lau Wai- Keung was born in Hong Kong in 1960 and grew as a child who consistently found interest in photography and cinematography. He joined several film making groups and grew as a cinematographer through that experience. One skill he became proficient at was the combining of martial arts with computer-animated special effects and thus established his existence in the world of film. It was in 2002 when he began Basic Pictures and teamed up with Alan Mak to direct Infernal Affairs.
Alan Mak
Alan Mak Siu Gasi was born in Hong Kong in the year of 1965. He attended the School of Drama at the Hong Kong Academy for Performance Arts. During the year of 1990, he began his film career and began directing in 1997. In 2002, he co-wrote the script of Infernal Affairs and came together with Andrew Lau to direct the film in 2004.
Andy Lau
“Andy Lau is a famous Hong Kong Cantopop singer, film actor, and producer. He has been one of Hong Kong’s most commercially successful film actors since mid-1980s, performing in more than 120 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time” (Accessed from en.wikipedia.org).
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
“Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is a five-time Hong Kong Film Award-winning Chinese film actor who is a former TVB actor. He has also won the Golden Horse Best Actor awards thrice (in 1994, 2003, and 2007). He has been a major film star since the 1990s. Leung won the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award for Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 film In the Mood for Love” (Accessed from en.wikipedia.org).
Critical and Popular Reception
“Infernal Affairs was the number one box-office hit in Hong Kong that year, breaking several box office records alone. Furthermore, the film won many Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Directors (Lau and Mak), Best Screenplay (Mak and co-writer Chong), and Best Supporting Actor (Wong). Infernal Affairs also went on win awards at the 40th Golden Horse Awards and the Golden Bauhinia Awards.” (Accessed from imdb.com)
“In 2003, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment acquired the rights for a Hollywood remake, titled The Departed, which was directed by Martin Scorsesse, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg set in Boston, Massachusetts” (Accessed from en.wikipedia.org).
Genre and Major Themes
Genres
-Action
-Crime
-Gangster
-Thriller
-Suspense
Themes
-Power Struggles
-Violent Betrayal
-Corruption
-Love
Questions/Comments
How does cinematography effectively portray the struggle between the good and the bad?
What are several similarities and differences between this film and other foreign films in terms of genre characteristics?
Han and Its Relation to Korean Nationalism
In Korean culture, han is a concept which describes the “collective feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of overwhelming odds. It connotes aspects of lament and unavenged injustice” (Accessed from en.wikipedia.org).
While han may be the general concept as described, it also has its relations to Korean nationalism. In Korean culture, this feeling of han, or resentment, can influence Korea’s relationships with allies, enemies, and neighboring countries. Due to Korea’s history of being subjected to unjust rule, Korean nationalism results from this feeling of han.
Sources Used
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338564/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infernal_affairs#Remake_films_and_products
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Leung_Chiu-Wai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Lau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_nationalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_%28cultural%29
My apologies, Amit, if the part about "han" and korean nationalism made no sense--it wasn't supposed to be included, but thanks for filling us in about it anyways. Oy, I wasn't quite over my jet-lag, when I was revising the handout from a similar assignment I gave in a film course I taught in the US. Sorry!!
ReplyDeleteI think other important themes in the film include doubling--Yan and Lau are mirror images and the two are often paired in suspenseful scenes. Also, the film seems to emphasize fate/destiny, and whether it's possible to choose one's own destiny.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this a part of an effect of globalization but towards the end of the movie, at the funeral for Yan they were playing the music with bagpipes/Scottish music. Is there is a reason for this or is it something insignificant?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was curious about the significance of what the guy who died in the car crash said. He repeated that saying about if someone looks like they are doing something but looking at you, they are a cop. I didn't understand why he had to tell Yan that before he died.
ReplyDeleteI think most of the dialogue used in this film was used for a symbolic purpose. When that guy mouths his last words about how an undercover cop is always noticeable through their observant behavior, the camera shifts to a closeup of the undercover cop's eyes. In a way, I guess it was to remind him that he was still a cop.
ReplyDeleteI thought the significance of Keung's last words (the gangster who died in the car--he'd been shot but saved Yan's life by driving him away in the car) was how loyal and "pure" Keung was, and also how dense; so, even gangsters have a code of honor. For a while, it seemed like he had figured out that Yan was the mole, since Yan was conveniently gone when the confrontation happened and Wong died, but he has too much faith in Yan and too strong a sense of loyalty to connect the dots. How ironic, then, that he's the one who's framed as the police mole when Yan and Lau strike a deal to collaborate...
ReplyDeleteregarding the question about the bagpipes:
ReplyDelete"In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Nations such as Canada and New Zealand, the bagpipe is commonly used in the military and is often played in formal ceremonies. Foreign militaries patterned after the British Army have also taken the Highland bagpipe into use, including Uganda, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Oman. Many police and fire forces in Scotland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the United States have also adopted the tradition of pipe bands."
-Wikipedia :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagpipes
I thought it was interesting in the film that whenever Lau and Yan had a reflective moment on their life the camera would focus on their face and whatever that was going on around them at the time seemed to disappear. It was as if their fake identities had taken up so much of their time that they started to forget who they really were and when they would realize this pause to think about it. Example would be when Yan was sampling the cocaine the scene stopped and he had a look on his face as if he was unclear of his identity; a gangster doing hard drugs or a cop who believed in justice.
ReplyDeletePiggybacking on the idea of "Identity" and the psychology behind it. Both main characters have difficulties with their identity and who they are. Yan struggles with being the undercover cop who he feels his higher ups have abandoned him in the hello hole of the Triads. He starts seeing a shrink and only to her is he able to remind himself that he is a good person and a cop. He questions himself as a true cop since he's been a gangster for so long. Inspector Ming however, gets more comfortable of his normal life and tries to erase all connections to his previous criminal life even to the extent of killing Sam. Ming's wife writes about a character with different identities and personalities just like her the two main characters and questions whether Ming is "good or bad". It is interesting to note the duality of the interplay between the two characters and their significant others. Yan's shrinks accepts his confession with faith and Ming's wife rejects him in distrust. Both characters of been playing this spy game for so long they sometimes forget who they are and which side they're playing on.
ReplyDeleteIn my reading of Keung's last words he is not oblivious to the fact that Yan is the mole, but rather he is telling him that he knows that he is the mole but he that he is still loyal to him. The dialogue in that getaway scene was too deliberate in establishing that Keung knew that Yan wasn't around and that he was covering for him. Hence the comments regarding the masseuse and if it was "worth it or not" and "if Sam knew you'd be dead". Keung grabbed Yan and dragged him away from the scene, if it weren't for him who knows what would have happened to Yan who was still in shock from the Superintendent's death. Keung was shot and he still drove Yan away and in his final breath continues to cover for Yan and offers him advice. Keung knows that he doesn't have anytime left to live and tells Yan that he knows he is the one but he'd rather protect him then give up up, telling him to escape the car crash.
ReplyDeleteIf Keung really knew that Yan was the mole or not, the scene emphasizes that even though Yan is playing on the other side he has made friends and companions in the Triads that care for him. The way Yan is in shock from the wounded Keung and his subsequent death shows the cross-duality between his loyalties as a cop and a gangster. He felt a lost from the death of the Superintendent but Keung's death equally damages him as well. This can be seen by the use of similar cinematography and music during these two death scenes. The dramatic music signifies that loss and suffering of Yan.
About the camera angle, I felt that he not only liked to focus in on the actors when they were reflecting, but he seemed to focus in on whoever was talking or responding at the time. I found this interesting because during the movie there were a lot of camera shifts between two people when they were talking due to the frequent changes in angle to focus in on whoever was talking at the point, which at a lot of times made it more dramatic especially during the rooftop scenes because they would play with the angle so that it would show both the face and how high up they were.
ReplyDeletethis is one of my all time favorite Hong Kong movie. First, just the cast already made this a good movie. Acting by Tony Leung was awesome, he's expression really described his struggles as a undercover. He's a good man and wanted be known as good man but he was forced to act as a gangster. I hate the ending though, I hope Lau died instead of Yan. I always thought the good guy should survive and bad guys should die.
ReplyDeleteI felt that in the end of the movie the director wanted show that life isn't always fair. It is unfair Lau died instead of Yan, but I feel like the director was trying to express that people always get away with doing horrible things everyday. I don't remember the intro of the beginning too well, but I remember something about Buddhism and I think the director may have wanted to reflect his views of Karma, and in which he might be trying to connect behaviors to be caught up in the next life.
ReplyDeleteI heard that there are two different endings in this movie. In the original ending (the one that we watched in the class), Ming identifies himself to the police as an officer and doesn't get arrested. In the alternate ending, the police force finds that Ming is a mole and he gets arrested.
ReplyDeleteI am curious why there are two different endings... :(
ReplyDeleteI also would have liked the ending better (or felt less uncomfortable inside when the movie ended) if the good guy survived and the bad guy died, since, like Albert mentioned above, we see people getting away with doing horrible stuff all the time. I like seeing a more fair, perfect realization of the world in films; may be a bit naive of me but 'good and fair' movies make me feel better about the world we live in.. At the same time, Infernal Affairs is a film that identifies with irony and twists - it makes the viewers question their own standards of what is good and bad. The director did a good job sticking with the original ending (and not the alternate one Bora mentioned), it's kind of like the 'finishing touch' making the movie more memorable and special.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone should note that what is "good" and what is "bad" is subjective. Just how the characters in the film themselves have trouble defining themselves as a "good guy" or a "bad guy" I think its too simple to just call Yan the good guy and Ming the bad guy. They've both done good and bad things throughout the time line of the film. At the end of the film, Ming tries to atone for his crimes and asks Yan for redemption. He shows remorse and shock when Yan is killed and ultimately reveals his identity and salutes him at his funeral. The final scene when Yan and Ming are shown again at the cadet academy shows that in different circumstances they could have easily been in each others shoes and Ming wishes he could have been in Yan's place instead.
ReplyDeletepersonally i did not like the ending. it made me a little sad. i cant believe he was killed off in the end. i thought i was nice how everything connected. from the beginning to the end. i thought that at military school they already knew each other and they had the whole thing planned from the beginning. and mid way i realized i was completely wrong.
ReplyDelete(about the two different endings...)
ReplyDeleteSome conservative countries in Asia still have strict regulations when they import films. The ending we watched in class, in which Yan, the good guy dies, and Ming, the bad one survives, is not acceptable. The conservative countries only allow movies that end with the good triumphing over the evil. I think that the original ending makes the whole story more meaningful and realistic. kind of social satire.
I agree with how the two endings of the film come with very different expectations. While short, the alternate ending did give that sense of moral righteousness. Since this film does consist of two different endings, it demonstrates this concept of globalization. It seems as if each separate ending caters to a different type of expectation: and they ultimately satisfy both.
ReplyDelete