Michael Ingham
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099197
- eISBN:
- 9789882207103
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099197.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter focuses on the issue of location and film space. It contextualizes the film PTU by discussing it in relation to its portrayal of Tsim Sha Tsui, the putative setting for the entire movie. ...
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This chapter focuses on the issue of location and film space. It contextualizes the film PTU by discussing it in relation to its portrayal of Tsim Sha Tsui, the putative setting for the entire movie. Tsim Sha Tsui is in many ways a metonym for the wider Hong Kong community, but careful attention is given in the film to constructing a sense of locale. Talking of a division of the film into seven major scenes and the use of highly impressionistic stage-type lighting, To refers to the choice of quasitheatrical perspectives in shot choice, which helped to create the distanced theatrical effect by contrast with the emotional closeness of the average movie. The locus of the narrative events is more of a significant player than the specific locations used in most Hong Kong films.Less
This chapter focuses on the issue of location and film space. It contextualizes the film PTU by discussing it in relation to its portrayal of Tsim Sha Tsui, the putative setting for the entire movie. Tsim Sha Tsui is in many ways a metonym for the wider Hong Kong community, but careful attention is given in the film to constructing a sense of locale. Talking of a division of the film into seven major scenes and the use of highly impressionistic stage-type lighting, To refers to the choice of quasitheatrical perspectives in shot choice, which helped to create the distanced theatrical effect by contrast with the emotional closeness of the average movie. The locus of the narrative events is more of a significant player than the specific locations used in most Hong Kong films.
Michael Ingham
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099197
- eISBN:
- 9789882207103
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099197.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter analyzes the film's narrative in detailed sharp focus. It explores the film's plot and story as well as its mise-en-scène and the aesthetic principles underlying its composition. As To ...
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This chapter analyzes the film's narrative in detailed sharp focus. It explores the film's plot and story as well as its mise-en-scène and the aesthetic principles underlying its composition. As To has indicated, the relationship between stasis and movement in film is for him an ideal property of his chosen field of creative work. In the case of PTU, this crucial balance between the two is achieved with great flair. To a considerable extent, of course, it is greatly facilitated by the natural rhythm of the subject matter. In other words, the film's narrative and aesthetic concept, its movement images and action images are predicated on the tempo of the police street patrol's progress through the “perilous night” of Tsim Sha Tsui. The chapter delineates the film's seven contiguous plot strands, which are theatrically interlinked in a way that is very unusual for contemporary cinema.Less
This chapter analyzes the film's narrative in detailed sharp focus. It explores the film's plot and story as well as its mise-en-scène and the aesthetic principles underlying its composition. As To has indicated, the relationship between stasis and movement in film is for him an ideal property of his chosen field of creative work. In the case of PTU, this crucial balance between the two is achieved with great flair. To a considerable extent, of course, it is greatly facilitated by the natural rhythm of the subject matter. In other words, the film's narrative and aesthetic concept, its movement images and action images are predicated on the tempo of the police street patrol's progress through the “perilous night” of Tsim Sha Tsui. The chapter delineates the film's seven contiguous plot strands, which are theatrically interlinked in a way that is very unusual for contemporary cinema.
Michael Ingham
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099197
- eISBN:
- 9789882207103
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099197.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
PTU is an underappreciated noir masterpiece by one of Hong Kong's most prolific and commercially successful directors. Johnnie To Kei-fung has been called the poet of post-1997 and the economic ...
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PTU is an underappreciated noir masterpiece by one of Hong Kong's most prolific and commercially successful directors. Johnnie To Kei-fung has been called the poet of post-1997 and the economic savior of the Hong Kong film industry for an extraordinary range of films produced during some of Hong Kong cinema's most difficult years. While many of To's celebrated films—such as Election, Exiled, and The Mission—feature themes of criminal glory and revenge, PTU centers on the ethical dilemmas, personal dramas, and stoic teamwork in the elite Police Tactical Unit. The story follows the PTU's all-night search for an officer's missing gun as they navigate triad turf struggles and marauding jewel thieves from mainland China. Shot over several years in the hauntingly empty pre-dawn streets of Tsim Sha Tsui, and released amid the 2003 SARS panic, the film evokes Hong Kong's post-handover economic despair and multiple identity crises. This book argues that PTU is the most aesthetically rigorous and satisfying of To's many films in terms of character development and psychological complexity.Less
PTU is an underappreciated noir masterpiece by one of Hong Kong's most prolific and commercially successful directors. Johnnie To Kei-fung has been called the poet of post-1997 and the economic savior of the Hong Kong film industry for an extraordinary range of films produced during some of Hong Kong cinema's most difficult years. While many of To's celebrated films—such as Election, Exiled, and The Mission—feature themes of criminal glory and revenge, PTU centers on the ethical dilemmas, personal dramas, and stoic teamwork in the elite Police Tactical Unit. The story follows the PTU's all-night search for an officer's missing gun as they navigate triad turf struggles and marauding jewel thieves from mainland China. Shot over several years in the hauntingly empty pre-dawn streets of Tsim Sha Tsui, and released amid the 2003 SARS panic, the film evokes Hong Kong's post-handover economic despair and multiple identity crises. This book argues that PTU is the most aesthetically rigorous and satisfying of To's many films in terms of character development and psychological complexity.
