It’s been a while since I saw the trailer to this film, it may even have been a different film, but I’m sure it was A World Without Thieves. It was after watching 2046, which wasn’t quite Wong Kar Wei’s best, and this seemed like an interesting actioner when it came out. How wrong I was.
Starring immediately one of my least favourite Asian stars, Andy Lau. The other day I saw Fulltime Killer in which he was pretty good, but I’ll save that review for another time. In this he’s actually likeable, what did annoy the hell out of me was the obvious wig he was wearing, which looked like a sixties Asian throwback. Give him a Liverpool accent and paint him white, and no doubt we’d have that missing 6th Beatle that rumours were heard of (not true, don’t sue me arseholes!).
Lau stars alongside Taiwanese Rene Liu, both of whom play a role of close personal relationship, suggesting marriage (they refer to each other as Mr and Mrs Wang, with the former being Wang Bo and the latter Wang Li), but they are simply deeply involved partners. Love is their second love, with the first being stealing.
However, Li realises that she’s pregnant and tells Bo that she no longer wishes to live the life of a thief. Bo in his arrogance gives Li her share of the money from their last gig, and dumps in the middle of the road. Li is rescued by a migrant worker named Root, who will end up changing the lives of both Li and Bo.
Root is inspirational and aspirational in Li’s need to change her life. Oblivious to the cruelty of life, he requests that 60,000 yuan (US$7,500), he has earned from working in Buddhist monasteries, be withdrawn. His colleagues agree but suggest he wire the money home as there are likely to be thieves on the train home. Root, being the innocent idiot that he is, believes otherwise and even requests that all the thieves reveal themselves. He bumps into Li again, who has also been found by Bo who’s apologised and made up with her, and the three decide to take the journey together. Li in her conscience struck methodology decides to protect him from any thievery on the train, while Bo struggles to accept her change, while dedicating half his heart to taking Root’s money, and the other half dedicated to changing and believing in doing the right thing.
With Root’s stupid announcement that no one would take his 60, 000 on the train, he’s managed to alert every thief on the train to his presence and of course, his money. So, Bo and Li in a Thelma & Louise-esque vow to protect Root from the unscrupulous eyes of the malicious professionals that exist up and down the carriages. Bo, however, can’t help himself but pick a fight with a particular group of thieves which includes a bunch of cocky show offs, and a more vicious, elder wolf who’s worse than he seems.
It’s a slightly absurd story, but I have to admit, I really enjoyed this film. It’s typically a melodrama, with moments of lovely thieving action in the form of articulated hand movements with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace, slowed down for artistry and fluidity. The fact that the whole film would spend most of it’s just over two hours on a train would have put me off had I known that in advance. It’s a good thing I didn’t I guess, as I guess I’m going soft and actually felt for the characters. I even felt something for Andy Lau, who played his part as the conflicted thief, watching his girlfriend turn from criminal to saint.
The director Feng Xiaogang is actually on new ground here, having usually made high grossing dark comedies, and so it’s not only a change of pace for him, but I think a successful transition as one of China’s highest grossing directors to serious melodrama. There are moments of humour in the film, mostly handled by Andy Lau, but these are minor moments as the film is mostly serious. It deals with human turmoil with regards to the existence of being a thief and trying to escape from it, as well as come to terms with facing the consequences of their actions. It’s deftly managed and enjoyably told.
Fen has quite a lot of guts in switching genres (his next will be a Wuxia film, another first for him). His direction in this film is not without its flaws, as some of the scenes of romantic thievery are a little too exotic; the use of Spanish music emulating similar scenes from films of that region don’t really come off very well at all, and seem cumbersome. It’s a nice touch, but it just doesn’t work well enough. The direction of small moments of thievery without the over zealous music, however, are a real joy to watch, putting a smile on your face at what is exaggerated dramatics, and makes the whole thing look more beautiful than it actually is; a ballet of thieves if you will.
Admittedly, the script isn’t too convincing for most of the film, but as the story unfolds you don’t really care how realistic the whole thing is; it’s just a really interesting film to watch, even with it’s sad, melodramatic but predictable ending. At times I even found the dialogue grating, verging on cheese. Some scenes were simply too difficult to read with the hard encoded subtitles, so I had my friend translate what was being said. For most of the film, it’s done well enough, with a very slick and sophisticated approach to a story that could have gone horribly wrong. Credit to the acting, direction and script writing.
It’s rare for me to recommend any film with Andy Lau in it, it’s a testament to his performance that even if I rate him as interesting as Keanu Reeves, that he still manages to win my praise for a solid performance (even if it’s rather typical for him). The supporting cast is also pretty good, including Ge You and Li Bingbing. The opening cinematography is simply gorgeous, and incredibly mesmerising to watch. It’s a shame so little of it is shown, but then I guess it would make the claustrophobia of thieving a little more difficult.
A World Without Thieves is slightly typical in its story, but it’s execution and characters are rather different. Playing more like a parable and filled with messages, it provides another slant on the typical honour amongst thieves theme, and although seeped in melodrama, its few moments of sublime action are wonderful to watch.
Verdict: A sweet and sad idealistic tale of sacrifice over selfishness. Enjoyable, if typical fare