Unlucky Monkey, the third feature by actor turned director Sabu, also has a comic spin, but more than snappy dialogue and clever situations, Sabu's forte is slapstick comedy reminiscent of Buster Keaton at his most manic. Like his deadpan master, Sabu builds narrative machinery into his film that, once set in motion by a goofy mistake or misunderstanding, develops a giddy, headlong momentum, according to a crazily logical design. Unlucky Monkey is his most ingeniously constructed cinematic contraption yet. It begins with a chase when a bank robber (Shinichi Tsutsumi) is followed out of the door by the bank's rent-a-cop. Meanwhile, on a parallel narrative plane, three yakuza find themselves in dutch when one of them accidentally kills a high honcho in a rival gang. Faced with a life-and-death dilemma, these characters find their lives becoming entangled in ways that are madly improbable, but the film's dynamism, inventiveness and goofball conviction carry us through. One wonders, though, if Sabu will ever make a movie in which the hero doesn't have to be a marathoner to survive. Courtesy Of Asian Film Connections, an HKFlix Affiliate Site.
SECURE CREDIT CARD PROCESSING BY VERISIGN.
745 users online right now / 557985 visitors since 11/2/2009 10:31:16 AM All content copyright 2000+ HKFlix.com, not to be used without written permission.
tell us what you
