Blog Archives

Ab-Normal Beauty (2004)

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Posted on March 5, 2007 by Jason

Oxide Pang’s Ab-Normal Beauty, the companion film to brother Danny Pang’s Leave Me Alone, holds onto the Pang stylistic norms that have made them famous: painterly composition, cool colour design, and a penchant for unnecessary editing. However, Ab-Normal Beauty isn’t without some major drawbacks.

There are two things that let this film down. Firstly, Hong Kong pop duo 2R are simply not good actors, especially when trying to deliver some heart-felt lines. The tension between the film’s main … (read more)

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Bangkok Dangerous (1999)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by James

Judging from reviews at hand and feet, Bangkok Dangerous is a technically proficient exercise in style (ya know, in general like) that fails to involve audiences emotionally.

Fiddlesticks.

Elevation of emotional affect over formal effect has to be expected, I guess, but in this instance I think it makes for unwarranted criticism. Bangkok Dangerous heavily borrows plot and theme from its generic predecessors (Hong Kong gangster/hitman films), but the Pang’s are not interested in simply re-staging situations. They succeed in … (read more)

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One Take Only (2001)

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Posted on December 4, 2005 by Jason

Once again the Pang Brothers have provided us a film that is more like a music video or flashy commercial than a feature film. However, unlike their other filmic ventures, One Take Only falls far short of excellence.

Directed by Oxide Pang, One Take Only is somewhat comparable to the gamut of generic gangster/hit-man genre films coming from Asia over the last fifteen years. What sets this film apart from the rest is the Pang Brothers’ usage of film style, … (read more)

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