Once Upon a Time in Triad Society

Knocked off in ten days by an ex-TV director with nine previous quickies to his credit, this is a spirited and remarkably witty demolition of the myth of 'righteousness' in triad gangs as expressed in the hit Young and Dangerous series. Kwan (Francis Ng, villain in the first Young and Dangerous movie) is a housing estate kid who sets out to become 'the worst guy in triad society' after suffering a series of let-downs, betrayals and beatings. Director Cha provides alternative versions of his story (one Kwan's idealised fantasy, the other supposedly real), but both are full of parodies of other movies and cynical subversions of cops-and-robbers conventions. Pitched somewhere between Monty Python and Roger Corman, this shows what can be achieved by a film-maker with more talent than money.