After this our exile

Patrick Tam is one of the most important new wave HK director from the eighties. The sword, and Nomad were both innovative and influential and helped to shaped the movies in these genres.

My personal favorite of Tam is always Final victory. I bet there was no one else who could convince Tsui Hark to play a serious triad role. And it was surprisingly believable. It's also Wong Kar Wai's debut as a screenplay writer. (Wong wrote half the movie)

I am one of those who said early Wong Kar Wai was influenced by Tam. Tam was even the editor of Days of being wild, most of Ashes of time, and part of Mongkok Carmen. It not hard to trace shadows of Tam in these movies. (perhaps it's the rhythm through the edits)

Tam had not been directing for a long time. This time he's pairing up with two of the most underated actors, Aaron Kwok and Charlie Yeung. I certainly had high hopes for Fu zi, aka After this our exile. Maybe I was expecting too much, Fu zi was disappointing.

An outstanding drama requires a good plot and good acting. The acting in this movie is definitely lacking. No matter how bad Aaron's haircut was, he just didn't look Malaysian enough. Charlie Yeung was dried and drained like a typical HK zombie OL. By the end of the movie, I could only hear the echoing of 'boyl'. I didn't see much character development here, the writer played gods and kept worsening the misfortune faced by the two. Dreaming that would seek some sympathy from the audience. However, all were too artificial, the story did not touch me in most cases, and I could care less about any of the characters.

The ending was clean, but at the same time a bit too fulfilling. I was not sure how I should feel, just awkward. Photography composition of the movie was beautiful, even the pace was a bit sluggish. I am hopeful that Tam can make another good movie when he found a good script.