Reel Asian - Day 1 | Overheard | Canadian Premiere at Schema : more than ethnic

It was sunny! Lucky Toronto. Glad to have left the soggy, grey, rainy west for a few days. Arrived just in time to get ready and head out to Bloor Cinema for the Opening Night Gala Premiere of Reel Asian with its Canadian premiere showing of Hong Kong's Overheard.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Terry Ting @ Reel Asian Flickr)

Damn, a must-see film. What's not to love? - Suspense! Corruption! Greed! Money! Daniel Wu! Okay, I admit that I have no idea what makes a good film for the general masses, but I sure do know what I like and don't like and Overheard makes it on My Good List. Overhead is the latest feature from the folks behind the Infernal Affairs trilogy (which was, of course, remade by Hollywood as The Departed). Yeah, the write-up pretty much had me with "Infernal Affairs" - had to see it.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Terry Ting @ Reel Asian Flickr)

After bypassing the lineups due to my much cherished media-pass (thank you Reel Asian!), I snagged a seat with the lovely Lisa Marie Chen of Blink and her crew...and after a thankful dinner (yes, sadly) of Kernels popcorn, courtesy of Lisa, I sunk back into my seat to enjoy the film.

Blink's Lisa & K.T
(PHOTO CREDIT: Terry Ting @ Reel Asian Flickr)

A bit nostalgic since a friend from my Tokyo days is now the Executive Director of Reel Asian...and it was a great pleasure to see Sonia Sakamoto Jog kick-off the 13th Year of Reel Asian in her first year as director. Woo hoo!

Sonia Sakamoto Jog of Reel Asian
(PHOTO CREDIT: Terry Ting @ Reel Asian Flickr)

Oh wait! Before the film, I was delighted by Live Long & Prosper, a performance-art/overhead projection film by Toronto artists Lesley Loksi Chan and Serena Lee. It was a thank you to lessons learned from a generation of elderly Asian women in Toronto. It was all in Cantonese...or was it Mandarin? My bad, I forgot! Regardless, you didn't need subtitles to understand a thing, the performances made everything crystal clear...and allowed me to stir the imagination in my brain after it was quite fried from the most annoying commute from Pearson ever.

Live Long & Prosper's Serena Lee & Lesley Loksi Chan
(PHOTO CREDIT: Terry Ting @ Reel Asian Flickr)

Okay, now here is where I'm going to cut and paste from the Reel Asian website (thanks to a fabulous write-up by Reel Asian's Heather Keung and Alice Shih). Overheard is about:

From the creators of the renowned Infernal Affairs trilogy and the award-winning Protege comes this highly anticipated nail-bitting cop drama. In this suspenseful action movie, personal privacy and responsible ethics are threatened by the use of new surveillance technologies in the name of law enforcement and financial security.
Overheard centres on an investigation of insider trading in Hong Kong, led by Johnny Leung (Sean Lau Ching-Wan) at the Commercial Crime Intelligence Bureau. On the team are his long-time friend and former mentor, veteran sergeant Gene Yeung (Louis Koo), and Max Lam (Daniel Wu), an ambitious rookie. After tediously recording hours of mundane conversations, Yeung and Lam intercept crucial insider information. They then face a dilemma: Would they seize this chance to profit from it or would they prove themselves to be ethical cops? Would their boss suspect any wrongdoing or would he be too busy with his own personal problems? The battle between greed and morality is not as black-and-white as it seems, but decisions entail far-reaching, dire consequences.

Set amid the roof tops of urban Hong Kong, Overheard interlaces high-tension drama with heart-stopping action sequences such as a car chase on the Ngong Shuen Chau Bridge, the second-longest suspension bridge in the world.

Writer-director team Mak and Chong's vivid depiction of corruption in the Hong Kong stock market is ultimately a cautionary tale of human weakness and greed resulting in a ripple effect of unimaginable magnitude that destroys many innocent lives.

...I have to argue a bit about the description of the "heart-stopping action sequences such as a car chase on the Ngong Shuen Chau Bridge..." because I can't recall such a scene. There's a lone car driving across a bridge...but car chase?

Just when you think the film is all tied-up with a bow and done with...*bam* there's a twist. Love it.

Of course, Overheard has Hollywood-remake written all over it. Smells like New York City, Wall Street, Gordon Gekko-type character, transit cops that say "watch the closin' daws"...just you watch. You'll be all over it, admit it.

The screening closed with a Q&A with Dominic Lam Kar-Wah, who plays the police superintendent...or at least someone high-up in the police force.

Of course, I was distracted by menial things such as recognizing Russell Wong's brother Michael in Overheard; wondering if the female love interest is Korean; thinking Daniel Wu is much better-looking in real life when I met him (and argued with him, sorry) at SFIAFF; and pondering how great it was that one of the main characters is not exactly handsome but still gets to be the hero. What can you do? The mind wanders...

More: Reel Asian Coverage | Reel Asian Blog about Opening Night | Review @ Hollywood Reporter | Review @ China Org